The elfi vs. Life Honorable Mention Awards for Really Weird Stupid Games That Are Weird

#5. Maru vs MyuNgSiK on Deadwing

Proleague 2015 (May 19) - VOD

#4. Bbyong vs Zest on Vaani Research Station

SSL Challenger S2 (April 9) - VOD

#3. Patience vs TRUE on Vaani Research Station

DreamHack Open: Tours (May 9) - VOD

#2. Mystery vs TooDming on Vaani Research Station

GPL S1 (April 19) - VOD

#1. Has vs Your Sanity

VOD2 VOD3 VOD4 All the time always forever (really) - VOD1

Honorable Mentions

#5. Zanster vs FireCake on Bridgehead

WCS Challenger S3 (July 29) - VOD

#4. herO vs DeParture on Coda

Proleague 2015 (May 25) - VOD

#3. Snute vs MarineKing on Deadwing

IEM Katowice AM Qualifiers (February 23) - VOD

#2. FanTaSy vs soO on King Sejong Station

Code S Ro32 S1 (May 1) - VOD

#1. Sora vs Trap on Cactus Valley

Proleague Post-Season Match 2 (September 29) - VOD

While we'd like to rank every game every played, it's natural that some great games just miss out on our list. Our initial tally included up to 100 games, and some of our personal favorites unfortunately missed the cut. However, there are some games that, even though they don't deserve to get on the main list, have to be included for posterity. So, before we get on to thelist, we present to you theand ourWhen playing against Maru, a protoss' #1 priority should be deflecting drops. Even though Maru has a fearsome TvP record, he can play a very 'predictable' style. By predictable, we mean he will predictably tear you to shreds. MyuNgSiK tried what any sane (assuming he's sane) protoss would try: use phoenixes in the early game to stop drops while transitioning to colossus. That, of course, did not deter the little terror, and he continued to drop the entire game. MyuNgSiK basically stopped every single drop without losses, and he played a very good defensive game.And then, he lost. He defended perhaps 20 drops, and yet he lost. In what was one of the most confusing games of the year. So confused was he that he couldn't repress his tears. Yep, pretty sure every protoss cried after that game.If you reeeeally want to read a serious analysis of the game, you could always read this. Trust Bbyong to take a game completely off the beaten path. Bopped twice in standard games with bio, Bbyong flipped all the way round into full blown mech in game 3 of this SSL Challenge match. Whether Zest’s response was an amused riposte to Bbyong’s unorthodox challenge, or a genuine, prepared strategy honed in the KT teamhouse, we’ll likely never know. All that’s certain is that, for the second time this year, carriers were released onto the field of battle.A laboured opening from Bbyong saw him struggle against Zest’s constant blink stalker harass, as the KT protoss took full advantage of the terran army’s poor positioning and lack of mobility. It delayed Bbyong to such an extent that by the time Zest moved out on 200/200 supply, he had ten carriers ready to go. With both armies maxed out, we watched as the tension grew. Which late game army was stronger? That question was answered immediately in hilarious style, as the carrier fleet scythed through the mech force in seconds.At this point in time, we’re pretty familiar with HotS cheeses. We know, for instance, that double proxy gate is a pretty strong build against a zerg who chooses to open with a fast expansion over a spawning pool. The question we never bothered asking was: what if that hatchery was on the other side of the map?Enter TRUE. No stranger to weird and wonderful games, he had already proxy hatched twice in the previous two maps, and felt no reason to change it up going into the decider. Things quickly escalated, as TRUE transferred his drones to his opponent’s third base while Patience’s zealots wrecked his main. The handful of lings he’d managed to squeeze out then proceeded to do the same to Patience’s completely naked main, leaving us with the oddest of equal supply battles—the zerg on 14 workers and 2 army supply, against the protoss on the exact opposite. TRUE’s spinecrawlers evened that up though, and in one of the tightest conclusions to a game that we saw all year, drones took on zealots in a fight to the bitter end.It’s relatively rare in StarCraft that people find a way to genuinely change the interaction between two units. MarineKing managed it with marines against banelings for instance, demonstrating the concept of splitting in StarCraft 2 for the first time in a televised game; while Maru similarly broke new ground with the sheer success and consistency of his marauder drops in TvP last year. Without such transcendent micro though, innovation through control alone becomes trickier.Thus, in the wacky world of Chinese StarCraft, players looked for alternative solutions. If one unit can’t do the trick, why not try using more? And thus, the six oracle PvZ build was born, inverting every tenet of traditional defensive zerg play. What’s that—you wanted to build a hatchery? Nope, time to force a cancel with oracles. You thought that two spores and a queen was sufficient anti-air to protect a base? Nope, here’s six oracles. You’ve turtled up completely to protect your bases? Here’s a massive chargelot archon attack.There are much more efficient ways to play PvZ (Classic, for instance, achieved much the same effect with just a pair of oracles in his matches against ByuL), but let’s be honest—who doesn’t enjoy watching the baffling sight of a mobile aerial armada melting hatcheries? In the final year of HotS, when the game was supposed to be fully mapped out, China once again found a way to confuse and entertain us all. After his breakout top 4 finish in the GPL, Mystery made his first appearance in WCS, where he reeled off this exact same build on Vaani again to beat a confused Ret in the Round of 32. We look forward to seeing what insanity he’ll bring to Legacy of the Void.As enjoyable as it is watching players adhere to the Artosian ideal of honourable macro play, occasionally you want a little splash of evil to go with it. Sometimes, you just want to watch the world burn, and for a second year in a row, no one was as predictably unpredictable as Has. Whether it was dumping foreigner favourite NaNiwa out of WCS at the first hurdle, driving iaguz to incandescent rage after a selection of cheeses, or starting off a series against Bunny by proxying a gateway at the top of the terran’s main ramp, you never knew exactly what you were in for. No one was safe; not even the casting desk, as Kaelaris and ToD discovered while collapsing into fits of giggles. It almost didn't matter how successful he was; the sheer fact that he was playing, driving his opponents mad with his one base mayhem was enough. Occasionally, we take too narrow a look at StarCraft, and become too locked into the standard set of openers and counters; Has reminds us of the joy of being different.Foreigner ZvZs have a very bad reputation. It's not entirely warranted, since ZvZ has always been one of the least liked matchups. The name FireCake also evokes more than a few gags, but as much as we want to dislike the polarizing Frenchman, he isn't totally devoid of interesting ideas and good games.ZvZ's turgid reputation is usually due to the globs of roaches crashing against each other, but on occasion we get an atypical yet seemingly standard game. In this one, FireCake chose to rush his lair for mutas while Zanster committed to lings and melee upgrades. A frantic tussle ensued as Zanster tried to deal damage before mutas, and he was able to set FireCake back a dozen drones. Unfortunately for the Swede, he had no counter for mutas aside from queens. Instead of going for his own mutas or relying on infestors alone, Zanster decided to make use of his melee upgrades and rush to hive. What followed was a very weird ZvZ late game of roach muta versus ling ultra infestor. But a good kind of weird, because this was one of those rare ZvZs with skirmishes everywhere.One of the greatest joys in watching Proleague is witnessing a perfectly executed planned strategy. While many of these types of games are cheese or early rushes, this one was a well coordinated mid-game attack. DeParture played herO like a flute as he understood perfectly what the CJ player was prone to do. Upgrading burrow early was the first tell that DeParture had planned ahead, and he was able to block herO's early third. With a very late robo, herO was forced to build a pylon and a cannon in order to exterminate the gopher. However, that would not be the end of the shenanigans as DeParture built to roach warrens at slightly different times. At first the announcers thought it was a mistake, but when both roach speed and burrowed movement appeared on the production tab, the plan was revealed. Knowing that herO preferred blink based armies with a lot of sentries, DeParture knew that there would be a window to strike as herO would focus on probing his late third. As the lings and roaches descended towards herO's ramp, the upgrade ticked down. When it finished, herO could only sigh in exasperation as his forcefields proved pointless.In a sadly bygone era of StarCraft, there were few online events more enjoyable than the IEM qualifiers. The Korean / Asian qualifiers were often more competitive than the actual main events, featuring a constant stream of great games featuring the world’s best players. They gave us hints of the up and comers of the scene (Zest’s dominance of the IEM NY qualifiers in late 2013, for example), while also giving us a whole heap of games that rank amongst the very best we’ve seen (Soulkey vs PartinG from 2014, Curious vs INnoVation from 2013).In the IEM Katowice Qualifiers, we were gifted the most MarineKing game that we’ve ever seen. Opening with an 11/11, he managed to bunker up on Snute’s ramp despite the zerg opening up with 14/14 into quick zergling speed. Stymied on one base, Snute busted through with roaches, while MarineKing quickly transitioned to 3CC back home. A bunker wall off prevented any damage from the counter push, and MarineKing was far ahead, rocketing into the lead off his much superior economy. Maxed out, he pushed in for the kill.Not for the first time, his overconfidence would cost him. Huge connections from burrowed banes put a healthy dent in his marine count, while marching into Snute's prepared baneling ambush somehow lost him an engagement against a zerg who was down 40 supply and was still missing baneling speed. A quick counter push cut off reinforcements, and with lings swarming all over the terran production, the game was up. The tables completely turned, Snute was now up by 50 workers, and one last desperation marine push was doomed from the start due to Snute’s mass baneling composition. Burning CCs began to lift and float before even MarineKing realised that being down over 100 supply was a less than ideal situation.Nothing in the early game of this match between FanTaSy and soO suggested that this would end up being one of the best of the year. FanTaSy’s uncharacteristically defensive mech opening locked down his three-base setup, while soO’s struggles at breaking down turtling opponents have long been noted by now. However, when a player with as storied a history as FanTaSy proclaims a game to be the best he’s ever played, chances are it’s worth a watch. When soO managed to push all the way into FanTaSy’s main, camping the production facilities with a handful of brood lords, the ex-SKT ace took that as the signal to force a base trade. A complete lack of effective anti-air left FanTaSy racing to eliminate his opponent while trying to cobble together a new base at his old third, but down 19 supply to 54, it seemed that all we were waiting for was FanTaSy’s traditional GG timing to expire.That is, until he noticed his full energy banshee hovering in a forgotten corner of the map. A crucial snipe on soO’s last overseer with his final handful of marines deprived the zerg of detection, and in one of the oddest climaxes to a Starcraft game we’ve ever seen, it became a question of how long his invisibility would last...As a competitive strategy game, Starcraft is often compared to chess. However, while the two share certain similarities—mainly in the initial unfurling of build orders and gambits, attacks and ripostes—it’s a comparison that does not hold up. Chess is by design fought on an even playing ground with mirrored sides; a fact that doesn’t correspond to Starcraft’s asymmetry, be it in race or tech choice. That inherent asymmetry in the game is what lends Starcraft its characteristic blend of timings and attacks—ploys designed to tilt the game one way or another based on the slightest of differences, primarily focussed on maximising one overpowering advantage.There are certain games, however, where the comparison is more than apt. Mirror matches, and in particular PvP, offer both sides the same starting tools in the early game, and Sora’s build here on Cactus Valley in CJ Entus’ postseason clash with Jin Air in Proleague was one of the most elegant of the season. Lacking any notable results all year long, it seemed as if he had focussed everything into this one match, with all the details lining up perfectly—the denial of scouting; the hidden probe; and the pylon block to slam the trap shut. In summary, it was nothing out of the ordinary—early stalker aggression after rushing out warpgate research—but in the simple beauty of conception and execution, it was without peer all year long. Outplanned, outthought, and outmaneuvered, Trap was forced to GG out.After a stop-start career, filled with WCG glory and anonymous troughs, this was Sora’s last appearance for CJ Entus, and given his current teamless state, could prove to be his swansong in professional Starcraft 2. If that unfortunately comes to pass, this would be a fitting reminder of him at his best.