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.
Zeus (Jun Tae-gyu) has always been considered a cagey veteran player. Perhaps lacking in imagination at times, but always a dangerous opponent any way you cut it. Nal_rA (Kang Min) is back for more, making his second consecutive trip back to the OGN final. Aside from his apparent inability to overcome Kingdom, there is simply no one more consistently dominant than this guy right now (this is 3 consecutive trips to a major final, if you count Ra's appearance in the Stout MBC tourney just prior to MyCube where he thrashed Nada 2-0).
1. Paradoxxx
OGN pulled out an interesting statistic prior to the game: the player who had the higher win % vs his opponent going into the OGN Final had a win % of just over 36
% in the actual Final itself against the same opponent (presumably, OGN's talking about the win % of all games played in the Final, and not the final result). Given Zeus was 0-2 lifetime vs Nal_rA in official OGN play, and considering the shellacking put on by Nal_rA in their last encounter on Paradoxxx in the NHN quarter-finals, Zeus must have been overjoyed to hear it.
Both Zeus (@7) and Nal_rA (@1) open with the now-standard double nexus on this resource-rich island map. Zeus takes the early gas tho, while Ra opts for the triple nexus route. Zeus, goes fast corsair, knowing that he needs to scout Ra asap – Kang's penchant for unorthodox strats are so well know, he was once nicknamed "Freaky Toss" by his fans.
Ra's build has doom drop written all over it. He's warping in a city of gates, while pumping out shuttles like crazy. By this time, Kang has 7 gates to Zeus's 3. Zeus sees Kang's build and rapidly expos his island natural @6. Both players then jump to their respective expos @ 3 and 9. It's a cat-and-mouse game so far, with neither player willing to commit to a frontal exchange yet.
8 out of 10 matches on Paradoxxx will be settled in the centre – it's a strategic lodestone that will either make ya or break ya. Jun takes the early gamble and sets up cannon/gates at the bottom half of the centre island. Spotting this move, Ra quickly shuttles in a large battle group of goon/lots to re-take the centre. This initiates a dizzying sequence of drop-counter-drop battles, giving me a headache just trying to follow the action. Zeus emerges the winner here, despite being slightly outnumbered, using excellently crafted goon/archon/temp combos to wipe out Kang's goon/lot ground forces. Zeus also easily overruns Kang's newly warped in mini-outpost at the top area of the centre. Zeus appears tactically on his game with great control and unit combinations, while Nal_rA seems content to leverage his superior resource-gathering to Chinese Human Wave the opposition. Anyway, Zeus is definitely getting the most bang for his buck.
Alas, as the Vietnam War demonstrated, tactical triumphs do not necessarily lead to strategic victories. Despite Zeus's battlefield superiority, the minimap clearly shows Kang asserting greater strategic control over the map after each knife-fight. Kang's got 6-7 fully loaded shuttles swinging like the Hammer of Thor now and drops the blazes out of Zeus's 9 expo and keeps hammering it until he's taken it completely and for good. In retrospect, this was the turning point in the game – suddenly, Zeus finds himself without an adequate tertiary source of min/gas anymore. There's another tremendous clash in the middle, with Nal_rA even diverting most of the forces guarding Zeus's 9 expo to the fight. Kang outnumbers Zeus again, but again Zeus manages to beat back Kang's units, this time with well-timed temp storms and timely reaver support. Despite all this, Zeus still looks in bad shape cuz his only major source of revenue is the 5 expo, which he's desperately trying to get on-line. Too bad for him Ra's seen the lay of the land now, and has virtually every other expo on the map locked down. Ra easily targets the 5 expo and with Kang also gearing up for mass carriers Zeus finally concedes the match and types out GG.
An uninspiring win for Ra bereft of much of the style and panache we're so used to seeing from him. On the other hand, the scoreboard still says 1-0.
2. Nostalgia
Only one player has ever come back from a 0-2 deficit to win the final of a major OGN tournament – Grrr made a furious comeback against TheBoy(z) (Gook Ki-bong) to take the title in the first (and now defunct) OGN King of Kings tourney in 2001. With that kind of history, Zeus was in no mood to lose this one. And it showed.
Zeus comes out flying and takes the fight to Ra right from the get-go. Zeus (@11) gets the benefit of an early scout against Ra (@7) and sees Ra's safe 2 gate opening and takes the 1 gate fast tech tree build. Meanwhile, Zeus aggressively shoves manner pylons down Kang's throat and catches a bunch of probes not once, but twice. This actually screws up Kang more than it first looks cuz the 2nd MP actually boxes in 4 probes at the same time! Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than skilled! Kang's face remains stoic throughout all this, but it couldn't have been good for his opening.
Ra puts together a small gaggle of early lots and rushes Zeus's 11 position. The zeals manage to punch a hole through a couple of defending goons and the lots begin to pick off a few probes inside the main. The invading zeals get taken down before they can do too much damage and Zeus is able to seal his main again. Jun adds some gates now and begins mass producing goons and zeals. He maneuvers them down and sets up a maginot line just across the bridge connecting the center to Ra's natural.
Both mirror each other's natural expansion and there's a lull in the action as the players gear up for their next move. I can see them massing their forces now, but neither has obs yet, so it's a tense moment of second-guessing for the players – do I have enough to push now or do I wait and add more units? Ra seems marginally ahead in unit count, but his zeal/goon ratio is seriously skewed to zeals, while Zeus looks to have more balance in his main battle group. The opposing contingent of troops shuffle ahead towards the center where they play hard-to-get with each other for a while, tip-toeing forward, only to beat a short and hasty retreat at the first sign of a response. Finally, there’s a huge head-on collision and the screen explodes with action, with goons melting and zeals getting vaporized all over the place. Damn PvP – can never tell who's winning the fights, high grade VOD or no. Anyway, when the dust settles, it's clear that Zeus has gotten the better of Ra again. Ra's forced to pull back, while Zeus's already beginning to recharge his main battle group with archons. Ra adds more gates, but he's also quietly built a shuttle/reav tech build in the background.
Ra masses again and throws everything he's got against Zeus's massive goon/lot/archon force at the centre area – while stealthily doing an end-run with a lone shuttle to Zeus's main. The timing is perfect, and while Zeus is preoccupied with the centre battle, the real action is taking place at the main where a reaver is busy laying waste to Zeus's work force. But, Zeus doesn't let up and continues to hunt down the remainder of Ra’s forces in the center (you guessed it - Zeus won another melee, OMG...). Ra manages to disengage his remaining zeals and tries to lure Zeus into fighting in the confined quarters near the 9 expo. But, Zeus resists the easy bait. He knows he has the advantage now (Ra's reaver at his main's long since been neutralized) and he pushes everything he has right through to Ra's natural. With hardly any defense, Ra's natural folds like a broken tent in a Texas twister. Desperate for a breakthrough, Ra builds up a strike force and coordinates what looks like a brilliant sandwich maneuver by punching out from his main ramp with goon/zeals while attacking the flank with the zeals from the 9. Too bad it doesn't work. Zeus somehow survives the shot and is still left standing, and I can see more units streaming down from Zeus's main. With Zeus adding another expo at the 12, Kang knows it's lost and quietly taps out.
Prior to the start of Game 2, you could see Kang smiling and relaxed - I mean, literally beaming with airy pleasure and confidence. Zeus wiped that smirk off pretty quick and in pretty convincing fashion. Zeus out-muscles Ra in a very impressive win.
3. Namja Iyagi
A key difference you'll notice when watching a pro-level BW match as compared to a random one featuring two buttheads on Bnet is the sense of utter control you feel the pro players have over the ebbs and flows of the game. I'm not just talking about the godly mico-management of individual units. So many aspects of the game seem mapped out in advance, and nothing seems left to haphazard guessing or chance. Still, I sometimes miss the very early days (when vanilla first came out) when I would enter a 3v3 without a care as to what I would do or how I would execute, focusing only on securing as much min/gas as possible and throwing every unit I had at the enemy. None of us really knew what we were doing, and there was no "game plan" to speak of – just make lots of units and beat the tar out of anything that moves. It was a brawl in the purest sense and it was a heckuva lot of fun.
Kind of like this game. Oh, I'm sure both players had come prepared with painstakingly detailed plans for the game, and it may very well be that everything went exactly according to plan for both of them (except for the losing part). But, this game, more than any pro game I've seen in a while, reminded me of the good `ol days. If typical pro BW games are like the elegant dance of controlled violence you see in PRIDE or UFC, this game was basically Bumfight USA.
Zeus (@1) had the strategic and tactical upper hand for 90% of this game, even twice levelling Nal_rA's (@5) natural and making me think it was all over. But, Ra showed tenacious grit and had the presence and foresight to build a hidden expo at the 10 island very early. Leaving that expo alone proved to be Zeus's undoing. Aside from that pretty move tho, most of the game basically consisted of the two players just whaling on each other all over the map in an unadulterated frenzy. WTF. It was CRAZY the number units that got wasted for what seemed to me a lack of any will to micro control anything – mostly on Ra's part no less.
In terms of game management, Zeus did a tremendous job (again) of winning virtually every single battle (again) and generally outplaying and out-strategizing Ra (again). But, when all was said and done, Jun somehow still managed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory (again). Crap, we might have been better off getting Forrest Gump to write this report.
Nal_rA comes back from the dead twice in this one and savages Zeus in one ugly-but-fun-as-hell mother of a fight. I dunno know the stats, but Zeus's kill/death ratio must've been 2-1 – and he still lost. Kinad reminds me of Uncle Ho's infamous prognostication on the outcome of American military involvement in Vietnam: for every 10 of our soldiers you kill, we will kill 1 of yours. In the end, it is you who will tire.
4. Guillotine
Man, Zeus is so toast. He must be kickin' himself now in his little space booth for letting Game 3 slip away. Not only is he facing elimination, he has the unenviable task of trying to best Nal_rA on a map that has Ra's name laser-tattooed all over it. Ra's never lost on this map in official OGN play, toying with the likes of Chojja and Jju on it – and I mean TOYING. I haven't seen a player so completely dominate a map since Xellos and HOT moved in, built homes and raised families on Neo Bifrost. Whatever he does, I'm thinking Zeus needs to win this with a quick-strike victory.
Guess both players realize the stakes now, cuz they both open with a safe 2 gate strat. Nal_rA (@7) tho flies through the tech tree and has robo core up in no time. Ra's going for mass goons, while Zeus(@5) looks to mix things up a bit with goon/zeals. Ra's found Zeus's main now and his first goons make their way to the 5 position. Kang's 4 goons get greeted by a mass of zeal/goons just outside Zeus's main and Kang’s forced to micro them to keep them alive. Zeus has 3 gates now, while Ra's still sending goons to reinforce the front line. Zeus has seen enough and knows he needs to take back the initiative. Jun begins a gutsy expo at 6, while sending a massive push of goon/lots to Ra's front yard. The push looks dangerous cuz there aren't too many units left back at Ra's base. But, here, we see something we haven't really seen yet – Ra actually wins a head-to-head battle! Showing deft control and excellent positioning of units, Ra's numerically inferior force of defenders hold the line against Zeus's stormin' troops. Not only that, Zeus has barely made a dent in any of Ra's buildings. He's got nothing to show for his attack. It's one of Zeus's few mistakes – and Ra makes him pay.
I don't think Zeus was expecting to lose so thoroughly here. He kinda looks bewildered and lost. On the other hand, Ra's been preparing for a reaver drop – but decides to convert the assassin into a battering ram. Ra pushes with all the goon/zeals he has and uses the shuttle to ferry the reaver to the front lines. Zeus knows he's in trouble. He's got more gates, but he's got no tech yet and his ground forces are woefully inadequate to match a strong goon/zeal force with reaver support. Zeus tries to fight a delaying action, but Ra's goon/lot/reav combo slices its way through Zeus's goon/lots like they aren't even there. In the blink of an eye, Zeus gets backed up all the way to his main, where he tries to evacuate his probes to his expo – only to have a single scarab explode them all! With Zeus's world literally crashing down around him, he finally concedes defeat.
Ra does what the best players always do – take advantage of the advantages that present themselves – and decapitates Zeus on Guillotine. In the process, Kang cements his reputation as the most feared player on the map, bar none. Oh, yeah: after a long and arduous journey that started in April, 2002 in the very first match of the very first OGN Challenge League, Nal_rA is finally OGN Starleague champion. Bow down, mortals, before the awesome power of Ra!!!
[GAME NOTES]
1. As mentioned, this is Ra's 3rd straight finals appearance in a major tournament, winning 2 out of 3. I wouldn't place him ahead of Garimto as the greatest Protoss player ever just yet – but I might consider it if he shows up in another final next time. The mark of the truly great, hall-of-fame caliber players is consistency.
2. Speaking of next time: OGN recently announced that it's next Starleague sponsor will be none other than Gillette. Now why would a company known for its razor blades and shaving cream go out and sponsor a game watched by kids who barely have pubic hair? Well, because, unlike everywhere else in the world, SC is considered a serious sport (relatively speaking) with a much more mature audience demographic in Korea. Total sponsorship money will be around KRW 400 million (roughly, US $350,000). Many are still scratching their heads on the choice of sponsor, but as one astute poster observed on the OGN boards: "Gillette ... sounds like zealot." And that's all the connection (or nexus!) we may need. Vive la Starcraft.
3. OGN reveals that Ra spent most of spring break analyzing VODs and reps by himself. All of his team mates (including, forU) were away on vacation. Poor bastard. Now that Ra's won and rolling in $, no choco pie for you, forU!
4. Not sure about the attendance for the match. 10,000 – 15,000 perhaps.
5. The win by Zeus on Nostalgia got me thinking about manner pylons. There are pros and cons to it, and its merits have been argued to no end. On the other hand, although I doubt anyone keeps track of this, anecdotal evidence suggests that the player opening with a manner pylon goes on to win the game far more often than otherwise. Assuming this is statistically true (I don't know that it is – I'm just talking from personal experience observing pro matches), it's difficult to say whether it's the result of the manner pylon itself or that manner pyloning just indicates a higher-than-average level of aggressiveness and preparation for the game. It could also just be a function of the general skill level of the players who tend to employ the tactic. More likely a combination of the preceding, with certain factors having a greater impact in certain scenarios. Just some musings...
6. The crazy brawl on Namja is kinda reminiscent of the jaw-dropping victory by Garimto over The Marine on Neo Vertigo in the SKY 2001 tournament. Garimto, always known as a finesse player, did a Jekyll-and-Hyde and just blitzed TheMarine with wave after wave of zeals and archons until TheMarine simply ran out of resources. Nary a microed unit in sight. Afterwards, I remember TheMarine looking like he'd just been run over by Mac truck. Poor guy never knew what hit him. That game was nominated Game of the Year by OGN (the unforgettable Game 1 of the Garimto v Boxer final in the same tournament ended up getting the honor in the end) and it's still one of the most underrated matches ever. Pure entertainment - it has to be seen to be believed.
7. OGN had an interesting stage set-up for the final. In a slight departure from the usual arrangement, OGN had a huge obs view screen in the middle, with 2 side screens showing the respective player's 1st person pov. Very cool. Watch for OGN to continue this. The stage lights were also flashier than usual – downright psychedelic.