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One thing that always makes Starcraft a little bit more fun for me is when a player has a "signature" build that he (or she) does better than anybody else, or is so good with a particular unit it becomes an unmistakable part of their playstyle.
Some of these are players who came up with builds or strategies that ended up becoming part of the overall meta, some are builds whose time passed, and some are strategies or units that everyone else did/used, but these players were just better at it.
Here's what I can think of off the top of my head:
1) The PartinG "Soul Train" Immortal/Sentry all-in
The all-in that won PartinG a world championship. Every zerg knew it was coming, and for months, they couldn't stop it. 9 minute move-out, perfect force fields, and perfect immortal micro with the warp prism.
2) Stephano's 11-minute max Roach/Speedling all-in
Every Protoss knew this was coming, but it took them a while to figure out how to stop it. It hit hard, it hit fast, and it took a foreigner close to the top of professional SC2.
3) sOs' cannon-rushes
Throughout most of WoL and HotS, almost every Protoss would pull out a cannon rush from time to time -- sOs just turned it into an art-form.
4) MMA's multi-pronged drops
Way back in WoL, MMA was the first place I can remember picking players apart with drops doing damage at multiple places on the map simultaneously and escaping before his opponent could touch him -- exactly what you would expect from BoxeR's protege.
5) Maru's Viking-less HotS TvP
MMA might have been the first player to find success with a drop-heavy style, but Maru took it to a whole new level in HotS. His ability to isolate and destroy enemy colossi with dizzying Marauder-Medivac micro was something to behold.
6) INnoVation's La-Z-Boy Push
A lot of Terrans decided that the best way to deal with Protoss in HotS was to hit with an all-in just before they could get storm, but nobody had the push down to a science quite as well as the best macro Terran in HotS. Get to 3 base --> Make 2 starports and pump out vikings --> win game. These pushes were, of course, made better when people started saying "pull the boys," because that's just a fun thing to say.
7) BitByBit's 1-base SCV/Marine all-in
BIT BY BIIIITTTTTTT. Some weird stuff happened in early WoL.
8) MVP's 2-rax
Another build that every Terran did at one point or another, but will always be associated to some degree with MVP because of how perfectly he executed it and how willing he was to use it on the biggest stages imaginable.
9) MarineKing's Marine Control
I don't need to spend too much time explaining this, right? His level of bio micro is nearly standard at the top of the scene now, but it was something else in the early days of WoL.
10) MC's Force Field/Blink Micro
MC and Seed were the only Protoss to win a GSL in WoL, and Seed beat MC for his title. MC's aggressive 2-base timings were great, but they wouldn't have worked without his insane force fields and blinks which, again, while almost expected now, were incredibly hard to deal with at the time.
11) Scarlett's creep spread
Again, something nearly every zerg does now, but Scarlett's aggressive creep spread definitely seemed like something different when it helped her become one of the most successful foreigners ever.
12) Flash/INnoVation's ultimate turtle mech
This didn't last long, because it came right at the end of HotS and players were starting to figure it out a bit anyways, but the games where Flash and Innovation (they started doing it at almost exactly the same time), split the map, covered their half in PFs and turrets, rained down MULEs from endless orbitals, and eventually teched all the way up into BC/Raven, with tank hit squads picking off stray expansions was definitely memorable, whether you loved it or hated it.
Okay, I'm at TL;DR length. Honorable mentions go to CatZ's proxy hatch, TY's safety tanks, Dark's corruptors, and Spanishiwa's gasless build (although I'm not sure he was ever a pro.) What can you guys think of?
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Never forget Snute's Swarm Hosts.
Also, san's 4 gate (the San gate).
Naniwa's Void Rays.
Leenock had a 2 evo Lings into Ultras build too.
Life's Zerglings.
And Bomber of course famous for his massive 3 base all-ins.
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Lifes counter-attack lings
lol, too late.
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On April 14 2016 00:27 Sakat wrote: Lifes counter-attack lings
lol, too late.
Hehe, sorry.
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- Has's multiple proxies ? - MakaRax also from MakaPrime. - You can add to MVP his late banshees. - Vortix's cucarashas - TLO's creativity (and nuke rushes) - Stat's Mothership (one of the only pros to use them constantly in late game. I'm sure he popularized them in SPL) - Fantasy biomech (not sure if this can count as a signature but he's the one that pulled it off) - Boxer's BFH (he basicly made a build for Slayers and made them nerf) - Thorzain's thor rush.
And iDra's GG
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Innovation's La-Z-Boy Push I think bomber and flash were more famous for scv pulls. They did it nearly every game.
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Naama 111 Fuzer 2-rax elfi proxy forge/gate, proxy 1-gate in oppos main PvT
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Bomber's BFH into bio Bomber's rax/CC/CC 13min max out TvZ Freaky's infestors Leenock's burrow banes Nerchio's muta/corruptor ZvP
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On April 14 2016 00:45 Luolis wrote: Naama 111 Fuzer 2-rax elfi proxy forge/gate, proxy 1-gate in oppos main PvT
More like Pumas 111 right?
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On April 14 2016 00:46 Luolis wrote: Also Actionjesuz 6-pool
Can't believe i missed this one
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On April 14 2016 00:47 myRZeth wrote:Show nested quote +On April 14 2016 00:45 Luolis wrote: Naama 111 Fuzer 2-rax elfi proxy forge/gate, proxy 1-gate in oppos main PvT More like Pumas 111 right? Well, Naama did pretty much 111 constantly with the marine drop/hellion pressure opener, and hes finnish which makes me favor him :D
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On April 14 2016 00:48 Luolis wrote:Show nested quote +On April 14 2016 00:47 myRZeth wrote:On April 14 2016 00:45 Luolis wrote: Naama 111 Fuzer 2-rax elfi proxy forge/gate, proxy 1-gate in oppos main PvT More like Pumas 111 right? Well, Naama did pretty much 111 constantly with the marine drop/hellion pressure opener, and hes finnish which makes me favor him :D
But Puma won tournaments on the back of his 111s.
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Puma's 111...... definitely.
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Huk's 8 gate.
How did anyone miss this?
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Gumiho for 5 drops at the same time?
Maru for being the only moron to still force siege tanks and banshees to work vs Protoss.
Rain for pristice defensive Protoss
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Papa Ra's Hidden Ninja in the corner of the map into mass Carrier? Really inspired me.
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On April 14 2016 00:50 FFW_Rude wrote:Show nested quote +On April 14 2016 00:48 Luolis wrote:On April 14 2016 00:47 myRZeth wrote:On April 14 2016 00:45 Luolis wrote: Naama 111 Fuzer 2-rax elfi proxy forge/gate, proxy 1-gate in oppos main PvT More like Pumas 111 right? Well, Naama did pretty much 111 constantly with the marine drop/hellion pressure opener, and hes finnish which makes me favor him :D But Puma won tournaments on the back of his 111s. Sure but it was still a signature move of Naama. Im not claiming he won more with it, but its definitely signature for him
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On April 14 2016 00:53 Luolis wrote:Show nested quote +On April 14 2016 00:50 FFW_Rude wrote:On April 14 2016 00:48 Luolis wrote:On April 14 2016 00:47 myRZeth wrote:On April 14 2016 00:45 Luolis wrote: Naama 111 Fuzer 2-rax elfi proxy forge/gate, proxy 1-gate in oppos main PvT More like Pumas 111 right? Well, Naama did pretty much 111 constantly with the marine drop/hellion pressure opener, and hes finnish which makes me favor him :D But Puma won tournaments on the back of his 111s. Sure but it was still a signature move of Naama. Im not claiming he won more with it, but its definitely signature for him
Ok fair enough
On April 14 2016 00:51 DinoMight wrote: Huk's 8 gate.
How did anyone miss this?
Ouch. His top 3 control. you can add to the gate master Adelscott :p
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