Nydra's Minutes: ASL 2 and the significance of TBLS' return

For the first time in nine years, the four greats of BroodWar – Flash, Jaedong, Bisu and Stork, also known as TaekBangLeeSsang or TBLS – are together in the playoffs of a major tournament. The last time the stars aligned in such way was the 2008 Bacchus OSL, where Flash made one of the most memorable championship journeys to date, defeating each of the other three of TBLS in a row for his first ever OSL victory.

The TBLS era is particularly significant to the history of BroodWar and having a nod to it in the ASL Season 2 playoffs is a special treat. TBLS emerged in a post-Savior world after the Maestro famously lost Bisu in the 2006-07 GomTV MSL, ending his 19-month reign as BroodWar’s undisputed best. Although each player in the quartet rose to power at different times and had his own peaks and slumps, collectively they defined the landscape of the scene for the next six years.

The TBLS years are also home to the most notable rivalries in BroodWar. The LeeSsangRok, or the war of two Lees, was waged between Flash and Jaedong across five premier grand finals and is widely considered one of the greatest in all of esports history. The TaekBang between Bisu and Stork colored the first year of the TBLS era with the two in contention for the best Protoss in the game. TaekBang spanned one MSL final and one OSL semi-final going Bisu’s and Stork’s way, respectively, and saw the two exchange KeSPA’s #1 position until Jaedong’s and then Flash’s rise to power in 2008.

TBLS' collective reign was so long it's barely matched in other esports, if at all.



In a way, TBLS is the modern (at least in BroodWar chronology) incarnation of the original bonjwa quartet of Boxer, NaDa, iloveoov and Savior and delineated half of BroodWar’s competitive span – a collective reign so long that it’s barely matched in other esports, if at all.

With ASL 2 bringing back TBLS on stream, a number of old, classical storylines re-emerge, stories whose significance BroodWar's successor never managed to replicate in its seven years and counting. Even though BroodWar is in a renaissance as opposed to being the leading esport, ASL 2 could very well be the most exciting event in the StarCraft universe in more than half a decade.



Quarter-final narrative: Stork vs. Jaedong, or the other rivalry



Although Flash vs. Jaedong is the rivalry that most will be familiar with, the Tyrant had in his time another persistent and difficult opponent: Stork. Stork and Jaedong met for the first time whole six months before Flash and Jaedong would play their first televised match and the rivalry between them spanned as long as the LeeSsangRok itself.

Stork is infamous for his numerous second places, making him a worthy successor of the original King of Silver Yellow, and he has anything but his TBLS companions to blame. Of his seven second places, Jaedong is directly responsible for two, at the 2007 EVER OSL and two years later at WCG 2009.

Although Flash is the one who’s dealt more final losses to Stork than anybody else, it was in fact Jaedong who really introduced The Bird to his macabre fate. By the time the two met at the EVER OSL final, Stork had three top three finishes, including a gold, a silver and a bronze and was on a meteoric rise to contest and eventually overtake Bisu as the #1 player in BroodWar. The OSL loss to Jaedong in the final was the first of three consecutive silvers and initiated Stork’s downfall where he would remain behind Jaedong and Flash for the next year until his brief resurfacing as KeSPA’s #1 in early 2009 – the last time in his career where he would rank on the top.

Although Flash is the one who’s dealt more final losses to Stork than anybody else, it was in fact Jaedong who introduced The Bird to his macabre fate.



While most of BroodWar’s significant rivalries were waged on OSL or MSL soil, Jaedong vs. Stork was translated to WCG as well. Although not as prestigious as the local Starleagues, WCG played a major part in Stork’s “Silver Surfer” narrative, representing two of his seven second places. To this day, Stork remains the BroodWar player with the most WCG grand finals to his name and Jaedong’s victory over him in 2009 to follow the one had by Luxury in the previous year kept Stork from repeating WCG championship runs, an achievement still exclusive to the great BoxeR.

Although at ASL 2 Stork is looking in great shape by winning his groups in the Ro32 and Ro16 and is given the unique chance to get back at his old rival who also won their last Starleague face-off in an OSL Ro4, he’s doomed to play his infamously worst PvZ match-up against Jaedong who holds the #1 all-time ZvP peak with a career win-rate of 67%, his second best match-up behind his markedly superior ZvZ.

Regardless, ASL represents Stork’s best opportunity to make a deep run in a tournament for the past six years. The Bird never found success in StarCraft 2 – unlike Jaedong who went on to peak as a World Championship runner-up – and the one-sided loss to Fantasy at the finals of 2010-11 Bacchus OSL was the last time the legendary Protoss contested a trophy.







Semi-final narrative: The LeeSsangRok potential



Though BroodWar has had multiple prominent rivalries such as Boxer vs. Yellow in the early years, July vs. iloveoov in the second era, or JangBi vs. Fantasy in the dying days, none comes close to the Battle of two Lees between Jaedong and Flash.

LeeSsangRok was waged on the very top of BroodWar and played out in five Starleague grand finals and several more top eight matches for who the best player in the game was at the time. A rich story worthy of an article on its own, the LeeSsangRok began with Jaedong as the Tyrant King of BroodWar until Flash’s blitzkrieg ascension to become the best player to master the game.

No rivalry comes close to the LeeSsangRok.



LeeSsangRok’s earliest chapters saw Flash denying Jaedong in two consecutive quarter finals at the 2008 XNote Star Invitational and Bacchus OSL, marking the road to the first two gold medals in Flash’s career. Although Jaedong would later recover and rule the KeSPA Ranking for eleven months straight, beating Flash in an MSL and a GOMTV final along the way, the war ultimately ended in the Terran’s favor and the start of his 2010 reign.

Between Jaedong’s first gold at 2007 EVER OSL and the discontinuation of the franchise in 2012, LeeSsang won six of the twelve editions of the tournament. In the same period, the two won five of the nine MSLs, meaning together they won more than half of all Starleague finals in the TBLS era, and this is not counting top 8 and top 4 finishes or their Proleague records.

Although a new LeeSsangRok chapter hinges on the prerequisite that both Jaedong and Flash win their quarter final matches, this is more than likely. Jaedong is already in a favored position, playing Stork in his worst match-up, and Flash has already beaten Movie twice in previous ASL rounds, proving his TvP is still on point, despite being his historically worst match-up at “only” 69%. Even though Guemchi has played admirably well so far, neither the pedigree nor the experience are in his favor.

If Flash and Jaedong both prevail, this will be the first time since the 2010 Korean Air Starleague finals that the two have played each other in the playoffs of an OSL or MSL. Although LeeSsang did meet on few more occasions since that final – in StarCraft 2 included – no other face-off really did the LeeSsangRok saga justice.



Grand final narrative: Bisu vs. TBLS



Although Bisu was the one initiating the TBLS era after toppling Savior from his throne, his career and rivalries were least entwined with the rest of the group. Even Stork, who famously sparred against Fantasy as his main rival, had his ongoing rivalries against Flash and Jaedong which were played out at finals of major tournaments.

Within TBLS, Bisu notably raced against fellow Dragon Stork for the best Protoss and player in the game, but their rivalry lasted for about half a year before LeeSsang’s ascent put an end to it. Although Bisu also played Jaedong on numerous occasions, their bouts never reached the final stages of any major tournament and usually ended with Jaedong eliminating the PvZ revolutionists in the group stage.

It's been too long.



Placed alone in the upper half of the ASL 2 bracket, Bisu has the chance to compete for his first gold in a TBLS-active era since 2009 and do it against the best players to walk the BroodWar fields. Still considered the best Protoss of all time with three MSL titles, Bisu has also had the worst slumps in TBLS and is the only one to drop out of the top 20 KeSPA rank (twice). Although Bisu has had success in the post-TBLS era during BroodWar’s renaissance in Korea between 2014-2016 with two SonicTV Starleague finals (one gold) to his name and another first place at the VANT36.5 National Starleague, none of those tournaments matches the renown of what ASL 2 is offering.

For the first time since 2007, i.e. since the beginning of the TBLS era and his second MSL title vs. Stork, Bisu could be given the chance to win a tournament by beating one of the four greats. While odds are stacked in TBLS’ favor in the bottom half of the bracket where only GuemChi can deliver an upset, Bisu will have to first go through ASL 1 semi-finalist Sea.

If he overcomes the quarter finals, Bisu’s chances for an ASL 2 grand final are much higher, as he’s to play either of his two better match-ups and potentially even facing Hero in PvZ – Bisu’s very specialty.

To summarize, the ideal scenario will treat us to a TBLS face-off in every single round of the playoffs, which we haven’t seen since Flash’s run over Jaedong, Bisu and Stork in that order for his 2008 Bacchus gold.

And it’s been too long.