[MSL] Swan Song

So, here we stand. After an exciting and extremely high-skilled MSL, we look forward into the dark waters of an uncertain future. However, while we don’t know if there will be another MSL to follow this one (or even what is happening with Proleague), the two best players in Starcraft right now are as set in stone as ever. Both Flash and Jaedong put up incredible performances over the course of Bigfile MSL, and it was fitting that they met in the finals for the third time in as many seasons. Both showed their expected level of brilliance, with intense mind games and great resolve alike. With a full five game series in a matchup that unfortunately often ends well before then, the fans too got what they were looking for.

It’s a real testament to the strength of these two players that we can even ask ourselves at this point: Are these skirmishes in the Lee-Ssang Rok happening too frequently? Are the two so dominant that we’re not seeing enough fresh faces? They seemed to be the definitive strongest players even back a couple years ago, but they weren’t dominating every tournament as they are today. Now the rivalry is being played out every season, and we’ve come to take it for granted. Even the friendly atmosphere of the WCG Korea finals - where both were already guaranteed a spot representing Korea - started out with an epic 50 minute long game between them on Grand Line. If there’s going to be change, it’s hard to believe it will come with these two playing like this.

We often wonder in post-finals discussion if the loser can come back with the same ferocity that got him so far this season. And yet, with these two there seems to be no doubt – no matter who won, no matter what the score. We know Jaedong was disappointed after the loss, but there’s no reason to believe he’ll be truly phased by it come next week. There’s no reason to believe he couldn’t just as easily take Flash in, say, the OSL and its more forgiving map pool. That’s a distinct possibility too, as both are in opposite semis, and breezed through the quarters the day before playing the MSL final.

So, in these problematic times, we at least have a steady foundation to stand on. Rivalries are at the very heart of sports, and it’s been some time since we had one to compare to Boxer-Yellow. As we close out the end of this great MSL, we can look to the masterful play of Flash and Jaedong to provide some solace, hoping that our beloved game still has many years ahead to explore. And if we do end up with another MSL soon, it will be no surprise if these two giants take up arms for a fourth time in a row.

As predicted, Flash came into the first game with an ingenius plan to seize the initiative and control the entire series from the start. More suprisingly, Jaedong also strove off the beaten path and attempted to surprise and overwhelm Flash in an unexpected fashion.

Against Flash's safe 14cc and expected 1 rax tech, Jaedong showed 2 hatch muta with gas before pool while, after killing Flash's scout, throwing down an additional hatchery in the main at a suboptimal timing in order to get more mutas out at a key moment. Flash would only prepare for 6 mutas, when in reality 8 with an arriving 9th would show up, fueled by the earlier extractors.

Jaedong's surprise met with a mild success, killing several goliaths and scvs as well as forcing the remaining scvs to run. Flash's defense was solid and he did not skimp on turrets as Jaedong might have hoped, but his initial goliath losses were out of character. Still, when balanced against Jaedong's late 3rd and inefficient build order, Jaedong didn't gain too much of an economic lead, but he did get, at least momentarily, control of the game. Further pressure with muta/hydra was possible, but Jaedong instead chose to aim to get a lead in the midgame.


Flash's mech strategy would assuredly have been to get up to 4 factories, tech to vessels and start 2/1, then push out to grab either the double bases at 9 or 12/1 with vulture/tank/goliath/vessel. Until that point, he would and could not move out beyond minor vulture harass. Jaedong took advantage of that lack of pressure to take 2 more bases, pump only drones when Flash was not a threat, and have a roaring econ while still making enough hydras to protect from vulture harass. From here, Jaedong could either try to make a timing attack when Flash was trying to seize the new bases or to make enough of an army to cover expanding to the rest of the map and gain control over the key 1 base. Either way, Jaedong would be in a fine position.

However, Flash was one step ahead of Jaedong as usual. Instead of going with his normal mech plan, Flash threw down 4 barracks with +1 weapon and +1 mech armor and minutes later rolled out with an unstoppable timing attack. The Zerg resistance was almost laughable.


If Jaedong had played a solid game, not trying to gain an economic lead but simply satisfying himself with equality, similar to Zero in his game vs Flash in the OSL, Flash would likely had lost or at least ended up at a good disadvantage. His entire strategy rested upon knowing exactly what Jaedong would do and his final blow was delivered with exquisite timing in the largest point of disparity.

Just as in the last MSL and in his 3-0 victory against Stork, Flash showed mastery of iloveoov's principle of creating a threat, showing the opponent that threat and forcing them to react to it, and then doing a 180 and hitting them with something new to take advantage of their reaction to the illusionary threat. Jaedong simply got outthought, outpredicted, and outplanned.


Just like the last MSL finals and the first Bacchus OSL against stork, Flash aimed to make use of the psychological advantage from the first game and confront Jaedong with a new twist. And just like both finals, Flash accurately anticipated his adversarys' thought processes and designed a powerful build to make use of that knowledge.

Odd Eye 3 is a unique kind of map where if both sides enter the late game in what would normally be parity, the Terran will end up ahead. However, if the Zerg can gain some kind of advantage, the map would suddenly put Terrans into a nasty predicament. As he did against Light and Sea, Jaedong felt it worthwhile to take a risk and gain that advantage. And just like game 1, Flash the Prophet forsaw it all.

Flash opened up a safe 14cc into mech, which he did not bother to hide from Jaedong at all like in game 1 (no marine production at front rax), while meanwhile Jaedong correctly went 3 hatch before pool into muta while squeezing out a few hydras to stop any vulture shenanigans. After that point, both players continued blind and diverged from trodden paths.

Instead of staying on 2 factories, making enough goliaths and trying to take a 3rd base safely as Light did, Flash immediately jumped to 4 factories and threw down an armory that hastily researched +1 armor. These extremely early factories meant that Flash would not have an academy, ebay, or any kind of tech. But they did mean lots of goliaths!


Jaedong on the other hand let Flash's vulture see his morphing spire and saved larvae in case of a scan, but instead of 9 mutas made 9 hydras! With a normal 2 factory opening, Flash would been forced to make goliaths and turrets to defend against the illusionary mutas and thus would have had great trouble holding his natural against the hydra horde. Even if Jaedong would not have been able to deal serious damage with the hydras, Flash would have been under great threat, unable to move out or expand, and Jaedong would be able to continue his real strategy of droning up 2 fresh expansions in peace. By the time Flash would have realized Jaedong's bluff, the latter would have had a decisive advantage that the map would see to its finish.

When Jaedong's fake hydra threat busted down the first depot, Flash didn't bother to count Jaedong's hydras or wait for Jaedong to try to push further and overcommit himself. Flash simply walked on out and crushed Jaedong with double the goliaths he should have had. Jaedong's many drones and hatcheries that would have been so useful if Flash had simply cowed behind his walls and slowly taken his 3rd were nothing more than an agonizing reminder of all the hydras that he lacked to stop the fercious attack.


In set 1, by threatening one dangerous strategy, Flash lured Jaedong into overreacting to it and then transitioned into a totally new build to take advantage of Jaedong's reaction. In set 2, Flash instead correctly predicted Jaedong's every action and went with a build from the start to take advantage of the complete series of actions he knew Jaedong would adopt.

This game showed that not only did Flash forsee that Jaedong would fake mutas, but he also knew that Jaedong would only threaten agressive hydra play and instead expand and mass drones. For those who claim that Jaedong was somehow wronged due to maps or natural imbalance because Flash could hide his builds, well get this: Flash did all of this blind and would have died had he gotten a single prediction wrong. Flash simply is many levels beyond any modern player besides Fantasy at series play. Next to him, Jaedong is simply nothing special.


Unlike in the first 2 games, Flash was happy to keep Jaedong guessing without commiting to any kind of allin, instead entering a rarely played and very complicated midgame he felt quite comfortable in. Jaedong was apparently out of ideas and put his trust in his experience as he has done so many times before, seemingly content to react to Flash's ideas.

By getting his 3rd Barracks before ebay, Flash took the game into dangerous territory, looking to deny the Zerg's 3rd for as long as he could. This third denial strategy is quite unpopular amongst pro Terrans, likely because it is simply too double-edged and complex. One of the most murky strategies in the game out there, it is a perfect fit for Flash because of his immense understanding and maphacking game sense. He successfully employed this against Jaedong before, and this time he enjoyed success

With this 3rd denial approach, the Terran attempts to delay the Zerg 3rd gas for as long as possible. The Zerg can choose to counterattack with mutas or with a muta/ling runby, choose an inferior expansion location, or they can also attempt to kill the marauding Terran army with muta/ling. Within these possible variations are many different alternatives of ling/drone timings. The Terran has many choices of which turrets to prioritize, scouting possible expansion locations, and making sure his army does not get caught off guard. In the previous Flash/Jaedong game linked above, Jaedong attempted a muta/ling runby that was predicted and easily stopped. Jaedong then invested in many lings to stop Flash's denial attempts, but Flash managed to maneuver, split, and reform his army in such breathtaking fashion that Jaedong lost every battle and could not even establish a 3rd.


This time around, Jaedong opted to counterattack with his mutas, successfully catching Flash's natural before its key 3rd and 4th turrets could complete. The mutas were able to deal notable damage, but at the expense of his 3rd getting delayed longer and longer. Flash's economic troubles were temporary, but the longer that 3rd stayed down, the worse off Jaedong would be.

The most important moment during this entire period was the failure of the lowly firebat at 5 to stop the drone from starting the hatchery. A firebat cannot kill a drone singlehandedly and Flash was forced to pull his infantry that were controlling 1 to kill 5. He could have potentially left his natural bare, using that group to kill 5 while holding 1, but he did not seem to have the complete grasp on the strategic situation (likely predicting that Jaedong would get more lings than he did) one would expect from him. However, Flash did not, and Jaedong was able to finally take advantage of his absence by getting lurkers in position to defend 1 and throw down a hatch.

Even though Flash would not have been able to kill Jaedong outright due to the fast hive, Jaedong would have been forced into a hopeless endgame, having no map control, being behind economically, and having no possible expansion zone. Having the 3rd gas at 1 inherently gives the Zerg control over that side of the map as well as offers an easily defendable 4th location, while taking 12 as the 3rd offers nothing but the ability to transfer drones quicker.

Despite Flash's failure to win right there, he still had an excellent position. It was possible that he could have stormed Jaedong's natural before his lurkers were ready there, but seemed to be too afraid of the counterattack to leave his natural open. Regardless of Jaedong having 1, he was not able to actually start mining there until his Nydus finished because Flash controlled the supply line from 11 to 1 and Jaedong did not have the units to even momentarily break that hold.

Jaedong's decision to rush towards hive immediately deserves praise, as it was the sole factor that saved him from an immediate death to timing push. Flash was well ahead economically and Jaedong simply would not have had the manpower to fight off Flash's timing attack. Instead, he got defilers in time to keep his key nydus to ensure the life of 1, though he still sacrificed considerable map control in order to stay alive.


The second key point in the game was Jaedong attempting to take 5 and investing in it rather heavily. If Jaedong could hold 5, Flash would be denied the ability to transition into his favored lategame TvZ of limiting the Zerg to 6 gas and defending with a combination of massed tanks and mobile m&m/vessel. However, this was an exceptionally dangerous move.

His position was perilous already and trying to take 5 only made him walk on the edge of death. This time, it was Jaedong's understanding of his opponent that led him to select the best continuation for victory. Had Flash and Light swapped positions as soon as Jaedong took 5 (or even after Jaedong reached hive), Light would have been easily able to force a win with his impeccable post-defiler/pre-ultra aggression, as he has done twice in the past half year against Jaedong. In both games Light gained a midgame advantage (as Flash did in this one) and was able to convert it successfully, giving Jaedong no chances to come back.

However, Flash is not Light. Brilliant as he is in every other aspect, Flash lacks the multitasking ability, the sense of timing, and the overall understanding of how to play in the positions Light finds most comfortable: aggressive 3 base lategame positions. Clearly Jaedong understood Flash's weakness and managed to force the latter into a position he was very uncomfortable in, just as Flash had done to him with his original midgame strategy.

He had numerous opportunities to translate of his complete map control into an insurmountable economic lead, but all he achieved was wasted armies and the death of most of 1's drones. A late 2nd/3rd port, late 3rd base, and overall criminal lack of dropships at key timings all added up to slowly drain away his advantage. His lone triple dropdship doom drop occurred far too late to be of any real use: had it happened when Jaedong was under heavy pressure at 1 or just trying to set up his position at 1 or 5, the outcome would have been very different.

Even after failing to take down 5 the game was not lost, mostly due to Flash's enormous Vessel count and superior army, but he made a very uncharacteristic tactical blunder in letting half his army and all his vessels get caught unawares by a fresh rampaging ultra/scourge herd. Normally you never see Flash ever leave himself vulnerable to attack by an ultra/ling army, always making sure his army is not vulnerable and the ultras properly irradiated beforehand, but his sense was undoubtedly dulled by the foreign position he found himself in.


Overall Jaedong did not play the midgame particularly well and ended up well behind, but through excellent understanding of his opponent and some daring risks, he was able to slowly claw his way into the lead with superb play against 3 base aggression. For his part, Flash played the midgame well up until the firebat mishap at 5. From defilers on he looked uncertain of what to do, something you almost never see from Flash. Despite the overall score of the match, game 3 proved that Flash still has weaknesses to be fixed and that Jaedong can find and take advantage of them.


Contrary to his overall character but not entirely unpredictable, incredibly sloppy defense from Flash led to Jaedong getting a gift win, something that he has relied on in many of his series vs Terrans. While Flash may have been cursed with getting the much harder to defend 12 position (cannot barrack wall because marines pop out on wrong side), he still had many chances to avoid the embarassing loss, most notably by remembering to move his scout back into Jaedong's main a few seconds or more earlier.


As happy as Jaedong might have been to receive a free win, if he had the choice he no doubt would have wished it had happened on any other map, for Triathlon was his to lose. That said, Flash said he had an excellent strategy prepared which would surely have made it competitive and it is a great shame that we did not get to see it played out, as Triathlon has really lacked any kind of unique TvZ approaches since the last MSL finals.


For the third and a half time that night Flash demonstrated that he completely understood Jaedong and could predict all his major strategic decisions. Like games 1 and 2, this was another match won by purely strategy.

Flash strove to maximize everything and went for a blind 14cc, not scouting until his second supply depot finished! Jaedong went for 2 hatch muta like game 1, but instead of trying to surprise Flash with 3 extra muta and then focusing on econ, he simply slapped down a very early 3rd and 4th at the normal 3rd timing and droned early. Apparently, Jaedong was satisfied with getting the largest economic advantage he could have versus mech, not bothering with any kind of surprises or empty threats.


But instead of opening mech, Flash plopped down an ebay and immediately threw up 4 Barracks, signally an aggressive m&m push against mutas. This was not passive, lumbering mech game, it was a declaration of war!


Once again, Flash predicted what Jaedong would do, deceived Jaedong to his own intentions, and used a build to take full advantage of his knowledge. With his large advantage in upgraded infantry, he continually rushed forward while making sure to guard his reinforcements, never giving Jaedong a moment's respite or any kind of weakness. By the time Jaedong's mutas got to Flash's main and he realized exactly what he was dealing with, it was too late. His economic adventures put him in a very vulnerable position that he could not hope to defend without impossibly superior micro, which is not going to happen against Flash.

Note that along with continuously sacrificing infantry for expansions and drones, Flash made sure to prevent any kind of counterattack with the semi-walled bunker and solid turret setup. Not only did Flash arrange matters so that he had a technically won game, he made sure to do it by giving Jaedong the least amount of room to squirm in. Had Jaedong countered instead of trying to hold off Flash's pressing, the game would have become rather messy and Jaedong might have managed to squeak out some kind of miracle victory. However with that option removed, Jaedong had no choice but to melt mutas before the neverending storm of infantry.


Let's be clear here, Jaedong did not lose this because he microed badly (rather Flash just microed quite well) or made some kind of error or another. Jaedong was in a lost position as soon as the builds solidifed and his only hope for victory was praying that Flash would make an egregrious blunder or three. Flash had so many different ways to play the midgame that would have all led to a victory, though his was possibly the best and the one that left Jaedong with the least amount of counterplay. The margin of victory was so great that Jaedong had not even started on his hive by the time his economy and army were a smoldering ruin. Flash takes the fifth set, and with it a second MSL title.

What a season it has been. From blundering into making the Hana Daetoo Finals post to becoming MSL head shortly afterward, my [TL] life has been intrinsically tied to the MBCGame Starleague. Like you, the dedicated viewers, I have spent the sleepless nights watching the games, seeing the players duke it out first in the odd Survivor format, and then onward to BoX series. Despite not understanding more than two licks of Korean, I laughed over the selection ceremony and its silly songs and performances by the progamers. I despaired over and was jealous of the fact that OSL had the stronger player pool, but that didn't stop me from finding some great games to watch in this MSL. I witnessed Sea take down Stork in the Survivor Round Winner's Match, achieving his 18th win in a row in the MST. I watched in amazement as EffOrt proved again that he was the July to Flash's oov in the Ro32. In the same vein, I cheered when history was made by ZerO vs great in their epic ZvZ which I hope becomes the norm and not an exception. I pinched myself when Kal nearly took the first game from Jaedong and pinched harder when he did manage to take the second, finally breaking his long loss streak against the Tyrant. I laughed as Bisu proved Idra wrong not once, but twice, showing that making Carriers is not always a good skill toi have. As the tournament wound on, I cheered as Jaedong took down both Sea and Light, and watched in amazement as Fantasy and Flash clashed. Oh, and Calm vs Fantasy as a series was hilarious. Many games and matches showed that Starcraft, despite being a game now 12 years old, still has much to show and teach us.

But, unfortunately, time is of the essence. Increasingly over the past month, it's been difficult to keep up. I admit now that I haven't actually watched a single game of Flash vs Fantasy (though I read about them), and I fell asleep after Light went up 2-1 against Jaedong (I swear every time I watch Jaedong ends up losing... since I watched the first set of Jaedong vs Sea and then failed to wake up for the next three). If it weren't for the TL meetup after MLG Raleigh, I probably would have slept through the finals. Starcraft II sapped MSL's fans and viewers. There have been many times when I just wanted to call it quits halfway through, but through some stroke of willpower and luck the entirety of the MSL team has made it through to the end, and I'm eternally thankful to everybody that has helped me work on these posts. From the established writers team, the graphics guys (alffla you're cute), my silly roommate and all my lurker friends, interviewees and to my personal hero Ver, you're the best.

To delayed deadlines, sniper kittens, failed fan fictions, late nights for writers, countless hours spent searching for that failed html tag, and most importantly to another successful season finished. If this is to be the last MSL, I hope that this season has been a fitting one to send the MBCGame Starleague to its final resting place.

And so I'm going to end this final news post here with my 9100th post--a number I'm quite happy to stop at. Thanks to all of you who have kept up with the MSL through the thick and thin, and keep on playing BW.

Good luck, Teamliquid! It'll be interesting to come back in a long time to see how things are. Brood War for life!

Also, Jaedong for OSL gold.