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LoHoonRok



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The Brood War proscene is in a twilight zone, skirting the edge of the abyss, with glory, starleague trophies and screaming fangirls on one side, the bottomless gloom of judicial proceedings on the other. Petty lawyers flap their gums and their dossiers filled with threats of legal injunction, raising a foul wind that pushes us closer to the pit. But we shall stand fast, as the root of the unshakable tree of progaming. We, the fans, unwavering in the face of the hailstorm, a mighty blizzard from the East.



Rocking the Proleague ship as it approaches the edges of the Earth, the storm has sparked a mutiny onboard. Mid-tier players, backbenching A-teamers who were either the butt of jokes or completely forgotten have risen up and are taking games from top players. In these first two weeks of Proleague, some of them have equaled or even surpassed their entire 2009-2010 record. Old favorites and trusty workhorses alike were caught unprepared and taken to the woodshed. If Week One hadn't made it obvious yet, Week Two makes it clear as day: this is the new Proleague season -- new maps, new leaders, new rules.





We, the fans.

Standings

After Week 2





Standings by Simplistik. Check out the full R&S thread.





New maps, new leaders, new rules, yet an old tradition still prevails as SK Telecom T1 takes the lead this week, after defeating Hite Entus and last week's front-runner Woongjin Stars in a match between two stacked teams looking to impose themselves this season. It went all the way to the ace game, where Bisu once again displayed his PvZ cunning by countering Soulkey's turtling strategy, forcing him to play sunken defense while amassing an army to overrun him before Hive tech kicked in. Now Soulkey, after having poked giant holes in Fantasy's shaky bio play, has to go back to the ZvP drawing board.





Stats -- the main reason why KT isn't a one-man team anymore.

Besides SKT, KT Rolster was the only team that won both of its matches this week, taking out ACE and Wemade FOX. Since Flash is "currently guaranteed to lose in Ace" --



The other shutout match of the week took us by complete surprise: Air Force ACE, home of the old men and failed youngsters, humiliated MBCGame HERO. ggaemo, former captain of Hwaseung OZ and infamous victim of



Q: You have 2 wins this season already.

A: I only had 2 wins in a whole season when I was on Hwaseung. I can’t believe I took 2 wins this quickly. This feeling is great.



-- ggaemo,



Uprising

ggaemo is one of the mutineers who has upset the natural order of things, with a 3-1 Proleague record so far, beating Calm, Sea and Barracks. Other rebels rose up and clamored for attention -- Turn and Brave were the only Khan players to win in the match against Stars; in the following match against Hite Entus they again won their games and were crucial to their team's victory. Last season, Turn had played a close game against Bisu, taking a significant advantage early on only to shoot his wad too quickly and fall apart. This season, he and Brave have gone 3-0. With firebathero gone to ACE and the former dragon Jangbi slumping hard (he's 0-4 so far), Samsung Khan would be doomed without these two winning games.





Perfectman -- the new face of victory.

If former OZ player ggaemo is now laying down the law on ACE, current OZ player Perfectman is also shaking things up, with his own unbelievable 3-0 scorecard. This is the player who went 2-14 in the 2009-2010 season, a baptism by fire caused by Backho's absence that has finally paid off today, to the point where Perfectman compared himself to Jaedong in his winner's interview. What is going on here? In contrast to these overachievers, top players such as Fantasy, Light and Leta have all put up a 1-3 record, and Hiya, who had continuously improved throughout the previous season, has gone 0-4, with uninspired play against Kal and Tyson in what was once his best matchup.



Q: In the last match, you won as well, but the team was unable to win.

A: That was when I finally understood how Jaedong-hyung felt.



-- Perfectman,



Legend of the Fall

It's that season again, and it coincides with very favorable maps as mapmakers try to alleviate Protoss' checkered performance. The fans tire of repeated Flash vs Jaedong finals, and it's time for a champion of Aiur to rise up and take back the starleagues. But first, they'll take back the Proleague, making PvT as imbalanced as it was meant to be, with a 19-5 record that dwarfs any other matchup win rate this season. Sitting pretty at the top, Bisu has gone 5-0, crushing not just Zergs but also Terrans, whether it was forGG's 2 factory attack or Really's island expo shenanigans. Even Stork, who would rather



Q: An analysis of the state of Protoss this season?

A: Protoss has an easy time on the map Central Plains. However other maps have reflected their difficulties for Protoss. Thus, [this season] Protoss can declare war. I wanted to dominate just as Flash and Jaedong did last season, but unfortunately could not do so. This season, I wish to go toe-to-toe with them.



-- Bisu,



STX Roll'd and Hype Entus

The two teams had a bad week, losing both of their matches, with STX on the receiving end of a shutout. The two outfits are in many regards similar: both teams are reputedly deep, both lack a proper ace player, both were hurt by veterans leaving. STX has never been the same since Hwasin was compromised in the match-fixing scandal, and to make matters worse, July, a living embodiment of victory on a team that has rarely tasted it, left his adopted family for Starcraft 2. Now Calm is slumping hard, barely able to scrounge a few wins in his best matchup, ZvZ, ever since Jaedong revenged himself in the Hana Daetoo MSL semifinals. The one top player left on the team is Kal, and his go-for-broke style is entertaining but unreliable. As for Entus, they lack a solid leader -- while Leta could fulfill that duty on Hite SPARKYZ, he's clearly not cut out for the role on a team like CJ.





Modesty -- the humble face of failure, as STX's Zerg loses his hatchery to Jaedong's

zerglings in the ace game. New maps, new leaders, new rules, yet an old tradition still prevails as SK Telecom T1 takes the lead this week, after defeating Hite Entus and last week's front-runner Woongjin Stars in a match between two stacked teams looking to impose themselves this season. It went all the way to the ace game, where Bisu once again displayed his PvZ cunning by countering Soulkey's turtling strategy, forcing him to play sunken defense while amassing an army to overrun him before Hive tech kicked in. Now Soulkey, after having poked giant holes in Fantasy's shaky bio play, has to go back to the ZvP drawing board.Besides SKT, KT Rolster was the only team that won both of its matches this week, taking out ACE and Wemade FOX. Since Flash is-- in his own words -- Stats stepped up to the plate and proved himself as Lee Youngho's worthy wingman, his carriers overwhelming Baby on Grand Line. Baby can console himself with Wemade's 4-0 victory against STX, a match which included his signature dropship play against hyvaa, and Pure establishing a 3-0 PvP record on Central Plains.The other shutout match of the week took us by complete surprise: Air Force ACE, home of the old men and failed youngsters, humiliated MBCGame HERO. ggaemo, former captain of Hwaseung OZ and infamous victim of Upmagic's mines , whose tally last season was an abysmal 2-6, sealed the deal for his team by winning a fairly epic macro game against Sea on Aztec. ACE is now in seventh place in the rankings, ahead of Khan, Entus and OZ.-- ggaemo, interviewed after the ACE vs MBC matchggaemo is one of the mutineers who has upset the natural order of things, with a 3-1 Proleague record so far, beating Calm, Sea and Barracks. Other rebels rose up and clamored for attention -- Turn and Brave were the only Khan players to win in the match against Stars; in the following match against Hite Entus they again won their games and were crucial to their team's victory. Last season, Turn had played a close game against Bisu, taking a significant advantage early on only to shoot his wad too quickly and fall apart. This season, he and Brave have gone 3-0. With firebathero gone to ACE and the former dragon Jangbi slumping hard (he's 0-4 so far), Samsung Khan would be doomed without these two winning games.If former OZ player ggaemo is now laying down the law on ACE, current OZ player Perfectman is also shaking things up, with his own unbelievable 3-0 scorecard. This is the player who went 2-14 in the 2009-2010 season, a baptism by fire caused by Backho's absence that has finally paid off today, to the point where Perfectman compared himself to Jaedong in his winner's interview. What is going on here? In contrast to these overachievers, top players such as Fantasy, Light and Leta have all put up a 1-3 record, and Hiya, who had continuously improved throughout the previous season, has gone 0-4, with uninspired play against Kal and Tyson in what was once his best matchup.-- Perfectman, interviewed after the OZ vs STX matchIt's that season again, and it coincides with very favorable maps as mapmakers try to alleviate Protoss' checkered performance. The fans tire of repeated Flash vs Jaedong finals, and it's time for a champion of Aiur to rise up and take back the starleagues. But first, they'll take back the Proleague, making PvT as imbalanced as it was meant to be, with a 19-5 record that dwarfs any other matchup win rate this season. Sitting pretty at the top, Bisu has gone 5-0, crushing not just Zergs but also Terrans, whether it was forGG's 2 factory attack or Really's island expo shenanigans. Even Stork, who would rather play cell phone games instead of practicing, can wing it and get away with it.-- Bisu, interviewed after the SKT vs Stars matchThe two teams had a bad week, losing both of their matches, with STX on the receiving end of a shutout. The two outfits are in many regards similar: both teams are reputedly deep, both lack a proper ace player, both were hurt by veterans leaving. STX has never been the same since Hwasin was compromised in the match-fixing scandal, and to make matters worse, July, a living embodiment of victory on a team that has rarely tasted it, left his adopted family for Starcraft 2. Now Calm is slumping hard, barely able to scrounge a few wins in his best matchup, ZvZ, ever since Jaedong revenged himself in the Hana Daetoo MSL semifinals. The one top player left on the team is Kal, and his go-for-broke style is entertaining but unreliable. As for Entus, they lack a solid leader -- while Leta could fulfill that duty on Hite SPARKYZ, he's clearly not cut out for the role on a team like CJ.



As our coverage kicks into full gear, let's grant a warm welcome to swanized, the newest member of the Proleague coverage team. He pored over the games and handpicked our Game of the Week. Take it away, swani!



Game of the Week

Free vs Best

by swanized



The game kicks off on central plains. Best spawns as the white toss at top left while free sets up his nexus as the purple toss at the bottom left. Both players go for a fast expand at their back naturals. Free's expansion is delayed by Best's probe for a while but goes up anyways. Everything proceeds normally from there on until Best decides to take a ridiculously fast third base at the 9 o'clock base. Unaware of this, Free happily sits on his 2 bases, preparing to take a 3rd for himself. However, his first observer happens to wander to the 9 o'clock base. Perfectly aware that letting that a 3rd base in the hands of Best for a longer amount of time would only lead to his demise, Free moves out with his goon/reaver force toward 9 o'clock. Epic defense from Best or carelessness from free? Probably a mix of the two, but the result is the same: Free's shuttle is sniped while he is trying to break the ramp and Best storms both reavers, forcing Free's dragoons to retreat and putting Free in a desperate situation.





Shuttle sniped...



...and reavers stormed.

Free splits his forces to try and sneak into the main but is repelled by good storms by best, whom, having taken a considerable lead even adds a 4th expansion at his natural. Adding insult to injury, Best even storm drops Free's back natural. Pulling himself even farther ahead.





Those are stacked probes

Best then uses the “best macro” to pump a huge amount of units and try to finish the game by pushing in Free’s warping natural. Free swiftly cancels and pulls all his dragoons away from the natural and up his ramp. Yet in the midst of all this, Free drops 3 Dark templars at the 9 o'clock and kills all the probes there. The Dts then move to the back natural and destroy the nexus before an observer can come to save the day. Meanwhile Best takes a 5th at 1 o'clock.





Nexus sniped!

Trying to catch Best out of position, Free moves out with his whole dragoon/zealot/templar to engage Best. Despite Best’s much larger army, Free is attacking from a favorable position and lands good storms, somehow winning himself the fight.





Free’s control leads him to victory.

However, unfazed, Best pumps a new army out of thin air and adds a 6th expansion at the 1.5 o'clock. Best once again tries to finish the game by pushing in Free’s natural. Attacking with a much larger army, Best’s victory was all but certain. However words cannot describe the tempest Free unleashed on Best’s troops. Funneling all the white protosses into his devastating arcs of lightning, Free somehow emerged from the battle as the clear victor once again.





DEM STORMS

Trying to grab back the advantage after wiping out Best’s army with his epic storms. Free moves out toward the 9 o’clock expansion and elevates 7 zealots to take out the nexus. Best moves out with his newly produced forces. Both players engage near the 9 o’clock ramp, Free outnumbering and outmicroing Best’s meager forces. Unless…





Outnumbered, outmacroed...



...outarbitered.

The arbiter reinforces Best in the middle of the fight, saving the day as Free desperately search for his remaining observers to try and deal with this new threat. Nevertheless, the zealots Free elevated finish the 3 o’clock. Free moves out to attack the 1 o’clock base but is quickly surrounded by Best’s massive army. Best then sweeps down all the way to 6 o’clock and gives it a prompt death. Meanwhile a scout starts harassing Free’s natural and Best’s army is recalled in Free’s main. Best finally push in Free’s natural after 30 minutes of intense fighting.





GG

Despite all the beautiful plays by Free throughout the whole game, the early disadvantage he faced as Best secured his fast third and sniped his reavers proved too much for him to overcome. The game kicks off on central plains. Best spawns as the white toss at top left while free sets up his nexus as the purple toss at the bottom left. Both players go for a fast expand at their back naturals. Free's expansion is delayed by Best's probe for a while but goes up anyways. Everything proceeds normally from there on until Best decides to take a ridiculously fast third base at the 9 o'clock base. Unaware of this, Free happily sits on his 2 bases, preparing to take a 3rd for himself. However, his first observer happens to wander to the 9 o'clock base. Perfectly aware that letting that a 3rd base in the hands of Best for a longer amount of time would only lead to his demise, Free moves out with his goon/reaver force toward 9 o'clock. Epic defense from Best or carelessness from free? Probably a mix of the two, but the result is the same: Free's shuttle is sniped while he is trying to break the ramp and Best storms both reavers, forcing Free's dragoons to retreat and putting Free in a desperate situation.Free splits his forces to try and sneak into the main but is repelled by good storms by best, whom, having taken a considerable lead even adds a 4th expansion at his natural. Adding insult to injury, Best even storm drops Free's back natural. Pulling himself even farther ahead.Best then uses the “best macro” to pump a huge amount of units and try to finish the game by pushing in Free’s warping natural. Free swiftly cancels and pulls all his dragoons away from the natural and up his ramp. Yet in the midst of all this, Free drops 3 Dark templars at the 9 o'clock and kills all the probes there. The Dts then move to the back natural and destroy the nexus before an observer can come to save the day. Meanwhile Best takes a 5th at 1 o'clock.Trying to catch Best out of position, Free moves out with his whole dragoon/zealot/templar to engage Best. Despite Best’s much larger army, Free is attacking from a favorable position and lands good storms, somehow winning himself the fight.However, unfazed, Best pumps a new army out of thin air and adds a 6th expansion at the 1.5 o'clock. Best once again tries to finish the game by pushing in Free’s natural. Attacking with a much larger army, Best’s victory was all but certain. However words cannot describe the tempest Free unleashed on Best’s troops. Funneling all the white protosses into his devastating arcs of lightning, Free somehow emerged from the battle as the clear victor once again.Trying to grab back the advantage after wiping out Best’s army with his epic storms. Free moves out toward the 9 o’clock expansion and elevates 7 zealots to take out the nexus. Best moves out with his newly produced forces. Both players engage near the 9 o’clock ramp, Free outnumbering and outmicroing Best’s meager forces. Unless…The arbiter reinforces Best in the middle of the fight, saving the day as Free desperately search for his remaining observers to try and deal with this new threat. Nevertheless, the zealots Free elevated finish the 3 o’clock. Free moves out to attack the 1 o’clock base but is quickly surrounded by Best’s massive army. Best then sweeps down all the way to 6 o’clock and gives it a prompt death. Meanwhile a scout starts harassing Free’s natural and Best’s army is recalled in Free’s main. Best finally push in Free’s natural after 30 minutes of intense fighting.Despite all the beautiful plays by Free throughout the whole game, the early disadvantage he faced as Best secured his fast third and sniped his reavers proved too much for him to overcome.



Epic games like that one are why we love Brood War. But we also have a secret fondness for another kind of game, and it's one of these, shall we say, special games that treehugger recaps for us, in an epic saga of daring and adventure.



LoHoonRok

Lomo vs Jaehoon

by tree.hugger



+ Show Spoiler +



Sure, the history of LoHoonRok contains no high-pressure games, tournament titles, or strategies that fundamentally altered the way the match-up was played. But it fully makes up for these minor deficiencies with the



So read on, BW fans, because yet another installment of this epic train wreck ongoing masterpiece was played on Wednesday last, in the second set amidst a





It’s ON.

The game begins on his third.



Seeing that they are both too strong to simply overwhelm with mere harassment, both players settle into the mindset of a macro game. Thinking ahead, Jaehoon drops a probe at the island expansion at 6 o’clock. (More on this later.) In the midst of building up, Jaehoon expertly sends his probes to assist in the production at his third base, but Lomo strikes the first significant blow of the game by intercepting the maynard. All of the workers are assassinated instantly, except for one, who is allowed to live for a little while, running next to the vulture, before Lomo cruelly kills it just before it reaches safety.





It’s psychological warfare like this that separates the men from the boys.

With hardened resolve after having witnessed the depravity of Lomo’s forces, Jaehoon immediately moves out onto the map and engages Lomo’s vulture shock troops, killing many of them. He is swiftly aided by the presence of the elite protoss arbiter, a unit that has become Jaehoon’s hallmark. However, Lomo, appropriately fearing Jaehoon’s arbiter usage, has barricaded himself behind a wall of turrets, with mines blanketing the ground at each of his expansions. Jaehoon sends a few zealots to reconnoiter Lomo’s expansions, and discover their weaknesses. When these zealots do not return, however, Jaehoon wisely concludes that Lomo’s bases have no weaknesses at all, and thus an attack would be foolish. To compensate, Jaehoon parades his army around the map, living of delicious fruit plucked from the trees, hunting wild beasts for roasting, and generally imposing his will upon the virgin land.



Meanwhile, Lomo grows jealous about the bounty enjoyed by the protoss forces, and decides to push out with a significant force of mechanized units. This is what Jaehoon has been waiting for, however, and he strikes at Lomo’s army as it marauds across the center. In the first massive battle of the game, Lomo takes heavy losses, but reaches deep into his soul, and fends off the protoss with a tank line as deep as his love for Jaedong. (Really goddamn deep.) With this victory in hand, Lomo gathers his forces for a devastating strike at the protoss expansions at the lower left.



At this point in the game, one could’ve been forgiven for believing that this was just a normal TvP, with a typical timing push, and the same familiar collection of units. One would be wrong of course, but until this point, it would be an understandable impulse.





Jaehoon breaks out the bonjwa juice.

Sensing the tide turn against him, Jaehoon knows that only his prodigious understanding of the game can save him. With everything on the line, he builds a dark archon.



Some commentators—no doubt enjoying the game from thousands of miles away, sitting in plush armchairs, stroking snow-white cats, and eating truffles from gilded bowls—ridicule this decision. A sample of this sentiment is shown below, with the author’s name withheld because it would be too embarrassing to publicly be called out for doubting Jaehoon.



On October 27 2010 13:50 k----------- wrote:

wtf DA lol

Shutting up the haters, Jaehoon immediately turns around his army and, with the DA leading the charge, stalls Lomo’s forces in the center of the map. Yet Lomo, being the kind of forward thinker that he is, has planned ahead and double expanded during his push. Most crucially, he martyrs Jaehoon’s DA as a parting shot.



With the gloves off, the blows become fast and furious. Jaehoon forces Lomo to lift a cc near the top left, while Lomo kills off a host of probes at the 9’oclock expansion. Jaehoon throws down the gauntlet by finally expanding to the 6 o’clock island, a full thirteen minutes since dropping a probe there, demonstrating the awesome extent of his foresight. Recognizing the urgency of Jaehoon getting the gold minerals, Lomo begins to build a massive tank-line across the upper section of the map, while floating a command center to the top left main. Jaehoon responds quickly by recalling nineteen zealots and one dragoon to the expansion, to make completely sure that he can prevent Lomo from landing the cc by placing zealots beneath it. Lomo is able to divert troops to the upper left, however, and is eventually able to clear enough space to take the expansion.





No space for you!

Jaehoon strikes again seconds later, recalling his dragoons to the 9 o’clock expansion and killing it off mercilessly Having met mixed success in denying Lomo’s expansions, Jaehoon reaches into his bag of tricks once again, and builds another DA. Emboldened by the reappearance of their leader, the protoss light brigade charges forth, and is promptly decimated by mines, doing little damage, but leaving an excellent impression.



Deeply inspired by the protoss heroism, Lomo makes a rare conciliatory gesture and donates a handful of vessels and a half-full dropship to charity. A rare amicable moment having passed, the players return to the important business at hand. Jaehoon recalls a tiny force of dragoons to the top left expansion, and tricks Lomo into lifting his cc and pulling his whole army to defend. Meanwhile, Jaehoon presses Lomo’s front with the massive army that he didn’t recall. It initially looks like Lomo will hold off the push, but Jaehoon guesses correctly what tank the purple flag is in, and stasises it, turning the tide of the battle.





C4! Hit!

Lomo’s reinforcements rush to the scene, but Jaehoon entrusts Lomo’s flag to a speed zealot, and Lomo’s vulutres are unable to catch it before it reaches Jaehoon’s nexus. At long last, after thirty one minutes of spell-binding action, Lomo calls gg.



What was gained? What was lost? Jaehoon reversed a two game losing streak to Lomo in taking the game, yet Lomo still controls the series. However unfair, both players will probably be unsatisfied with their performances in the game. When it comes to perfectionists like these two players, that’s always the case. There can be no doubt that both will dream of their next encounter, and prepare to make it even better than the last. The true winners, however were the fans. These are not ordinary or happy times for BW. Some of our favorite players are leaving. A lawyer from Blizzard could come bursting through the studio doors at any moment to stop the proceedings. It is under this cloud that we tune in at the end of every week. We know that each game we watch could be the last.



When that time comes, the only wish I have for that final game is that it be half as entertaining as Lomo and Jaehoon.



BONUS: I made one Sc2 reference in this write-up. Did you find it? Brood War has no shortage of great rivalries. Boxer and YellOw. sAviOr and Bisu. Flash and Jaedong. But can anyone truly say that any of these pairs can compare to the incredible spectacle that results when Lomo plays Jaehoon? I know I can't.Sure, the history of LoHoonRok contains no high-pressure games, tournament titles, or strategies that fundamentally altered the way the match-up was played. But it fully makes up for these minor deficiencies with the passion and unrestrained genius that defines the game of BW. When Lomo and Jaehoon play , you can see the fight in their eyes. These are games for pride, pure and simple. And there’s nothing either of these players wouldn’t do for pride.So read on, BW fans, because yet another installment of thisongoing masterpiece was played on Wednesday last, in the second set amidst a fantastic series (It really was very good) between MBC and Hwaseung Oz.The game begins on Empire of the Sun , with Lomo spawning in purple at the top right position, while Jaehoon spawns in teal at the bottom right. Showing incredible daring, Lomo opts to expand after building only a barracks. Yet Jaehoon’s cunning is evident as he too plays for an economic advantage, taking an early nexus behind no defense at all! Jaehoon is the first to apply pressure, but is thwarted by an ironclad bunker defense from Lomo. Lomo then pushes out with a couple vultures, but Jaehoon’s flawless game-sense allows him to deflect this harassment with no losses. A brief skirmish at Lomo’s newly-established third falls in favor of the defender, but Jaehoon simultaneously shuts down attempted harassment from Lomo atthird.Seeing that they are both too strong to simply overwhelm with mere harassment, both players settle into the mindset of a macro game. Thinking ahead, Jaehoon drops a probe at the island expansion at 6 o’clock. (More on this later.) In the midst of building up, Jaehoon expertly sends his probes to assist in the production at his third base, but Lomo strikes the first significant blow of the game by intercepting the maynard. All of the workers are assassinated instantly, except for one, who is allowed to live for a little while, running next to the vulture, before Lomo cruelly kills it just before it reaches safety.With hardened resolve after having witnessed the depravity of Lomo’s forces, Jaehoon immediately moves out onto the map and engages Lomo’s vulture shock troops, killing many of them. He is swiftly aided by the presence of the elite protoss arbiter, a unit that has become Jaehoon’s hallmark. However, Lomo, appropriately fearing Jaehoon’s arbiter usage, has barricaded himself behind a wall of turrets, with mines blanketing the ground at each of his expansions. Jaehoon sends a few zealots to reconnoiter Lomo’s expansions, and discover their weaknesses. When these zealots do not return, however, Jaehoon wisely concludes that Lomo’s bases have no weaknesses at all, and thus an attack would be foolish. To compensate, Jaehoon parades his army around the map, living of delicious fruit plucked from the trees, hunting wild beasts for roasting, and generally imposing his will upon the virgin land.Meanwhile, Lomo grows jealous about the bounty enjoyed by the protoss forces, and decides to push out with a significant force of mechanized units. This is what Jaehoon has been waiting for, however, and he strikes at Lomo’s army as it marauds across the center. In the first massive battle of the game, Lomo takes heavy losses, but reaches deep into his soul, and fends off the protoss with a tank line as deep as his love for Jaedong. (Really goddamn deep.) With this victory in hand, Lomo gathers his forces for a devastating strike at the protoss expansions at the lower left.At this point in the game, one could’ve been forgiven for believing that this was just a normal TvP, with a typical timing push, and the same familiar collection of units. One would be wrong of course, but until this point, it would be an understandable impulse.Sensing the tide turn against him, Jaehoon knows that only his prodigious understanding of the game can save him. With everything on the line, he builds a dark archon.Some commentators—no doubt enjoying the game from thousands of miles away, sitting in plush armchairs, stroking snow-white cats, and eating truffles from gilded bowls—ridicule this decision. A sample of this sentiment is shown below, with the author’s name withheld because it would be too embarrassing to publicly be called out for doubting Jaehoon.Shutting up the haters, Jaehoon immediately turns around his army and, with the DA leading the charge, stalls Lomo’s forces in the center of the map. Yet Lomo, being the kind of forward thinker that he is, has planned ahead and double expanded during his push. Most crucially, he martyrs Jaehoon’s DA as a parting shot.With the gloves off, the blows become fast and furious. Jaehoon forces Lomo to lift a cc near the top left, while Lomo kills off a host of probes at the 9’oclock expansion. Jaehoon throws down the gauntlet by finally expanding to the 6 o’clock island, a full thirteen minutes since dropping a probe there, demonstrating the awesome extent of his foresight. Recognizing the urgency of Jaehoon getting the gold minerals, Lomo begins to build a massive tank-line across the upper section of the map, while floating a command center to the top left main. Jaehoon responds quickly by recalling nineteen zealots and one dragoon to the expansion, to make completely sure that he can prevent Lomo from landing the cc by placing zealots beneath it. Lomo is able to divert troops to the upper left, however, and is eventually able to clear enough space to take the expansion.Jaehoon strikes again seconds later, recalling his dragoons to the 9 o’clock expansion and killing it off mercilessly Having met mixed success in denying Lomo’s expansions, Jaehoon reaches into his bag of tricks once again, and builds another DA. Emboldened by the reappearance of their leader, the protoss light brigade charges forth, and is promptly decimated by mines, doing little damage, but leaving animpression.Deeply inspired by the protoss heroism, Lomo makes a rare conciliatory gesture and donates a handful of vessels and a half-full dropship to charity. A rare amicable moment having passed, the players return to the important business at hand. Jaehoon recalls a tiny force of dragoons to the top left expansion, and tricks Lomo into lifting his cc and pulling his whole army to defend. Meanwhile, Jaehoon presses Lomo’s front with the massive army that he didn’t recall. It initially looks like Lomo will hold off the push, but Jaehoon guesses correctly what tank the purple flag is in, and stasises it, turning the tide of the battle.Lomo’s reinforcements rush to the scene, but Jaehoon entrusts Lomo’s flag to a speed zealot, and Lomo’s vulutres are unable to catch it before it reaches Jaehoon’s nexus. At long last, after thirty one minutes of spell-binding action, Lomo calls gg.What was gained? What was lost? Jaehoon reversed a two game losing streak to Lomo in taking the game, yet Lomo still controls the series. However unfair, both players will probably be unsatisfied with their performances in the game. When it comes to perfectionists like these two players, that’s always the case. There can be no doubt that both will dream of their next encounter, and prepare to make it even better than the last. The true winners, however were the fans. These are not ordinary or happy times for BW. Some of our favorite players are leaving. A lawyer from Blizzard could come bursting through the studio doors at any moment to stop the proceedings. It is under this cloud that we tune in at the end of every week. We know that each game we watch could be the last.When that time comes, the only wish I have for that final game is that it be half as entertaining as Lomo and Jaehoon.BONUS: I made one Sc2 reference in this write-up. Did you find it?



What a tale! After such a spirited and high-level bout between two of the most memorable characters on the scene, it's time to settle down for a serious, chin-stroking analysis of one of the new Proleague maps, Empire of the Sun. swanized puts aside the rulers and stopwatches and brings us the results.



Map Analysis

Empire of the Sun

by swanized





The most noticeable feature of empire of the sun is just how gigantic this map is. The 2010-2011 Proleague Round 1 map pool's average rush distance is 39.1 seconds, Empire of the sun is about 50 seconds. That's a whopping 11 seconds difference compared to the map pool's average! Such a large map can only remind us of Grand Line, another huge map that features a 46 seconds rush distance.



Awful Linear Push Patterns





Taking a brief look at Grand Line, what strikes me is how much this map invites offensive plays. Controlling the high-ground line in the middle of the map was key to launch successful attacks on your opponents bases. Control of the line would let you attack downhill into your opponent's low-ground naturals. Controlling the line would also let you take the 12 and 6 o'clock bases. Grand Line was all about controlling the line and offensive plays were necessary to get control of it. Neo.G_Soulkey was a master at using zerg's mobility to control the line late-game and abuse every terrans he fought on this map ( Soulkey is 5-0 in ZvT on Grandline SE).



How does this relate to Empire of The Sun?



Empire of The Sun is pretty much the anti-thesis to Grand Line. This map is all about giving the advantage to the defending player. If we take a look at the following picture.





Example 1

Player 1 is trying to push Player 2 away from Area B. His forces are stationed on area A. If Player 1 tries to attack . He will be running downhill into the low-ground (eating fire from siege tanks if Player 2 is Terran) then Player 1 forces will engage Player 2 , whom has the high-ground advantage on his side. Player 1's army needs to be much bigger if he wants to break Player 2's positions. Same goes if Player 2 wants to push into area A. He will have to fight a uphill battle against Player 1.



Example 2

Player 1 has his forces stationed on area C, he wants to push out Player 2 from his positions on area D. If Player 1 tries to attack, he is going to run in the low-ground in the middle of the map to try and break Player 2's positions, located on a high-ground. Even if Player 1 succeeds and breaks Area D, he still has to push from Area D to Area E to attack Player 2's natural (which brings us back to example 1).



This shows that empire of the sun is a map that makes linear pushes extremely difficult to successfully deliver. Here is a game between Lomo and Jaehoon where I isolated 2 of the linear pushes made by both players.







Jaehoon pushes Lomo forces through the middle. His whole dragoon force gets destroyed by lomo's tanks, located on the high-ground (area B). (Stop at 19:52)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwRM1fJYoLY&feature=player_embedded#at=1247



Watch Lomo donate his whole army while trying to push from area A to area D. (Stop at 21:05)



Both players pretty much stopped pushing after meeting such catastrophic results.





Circular Push Patterns

Let's take a look at the map once again.





You can notice that there 2 additional push patterns, that are not really in a straight line but rather curvy, let's go over both of these too.



Example 1

Player 1 is trying to attack Player 2's 3rd at area B, he can basically move up to the high ground leading to area B and then attack it downhill. This is pretty much the easiest push pattern of this map. Even then, attacking through the ramp is not a very enjoyable perspective...



Example 2

Player 1 sitting in area C wants to boot Player 2 from area D. He can avoid having to attack from the low-ground by pushing through the green path. However, He is getting funneled through that choke and will still be engaging under terrible conditions.



Circular pattern A to B is pretty much the only decent way to attack your opponent, even then. Once the base at area B is taken out you can't really push up the ramp (unless your opponent has not troops left). Overall the circular push patterns are not really better then the linear push patterns.



Conclusion

Overall, Empire of The Sun is a map that gives the defending player an incredible advantage. However, the attacker can try to bypass this by recalling a lot, like Jaehoon did against Lomo, or dropping everywhere. Thus I think the island expansions are a really nice addition to the map since they give an additional motive to use drops a lot. I actually expect to see some very dynamic plays due to the players trying to work a way around the terrible push patterns.



Time will tell... The most noticeable feature of empire of the sun is just how gigantic this map is. The 2010-2011 Proleague Round 1 map pool's average rush distance is 39.1 seconds, Empire of the sun is about 50 seconds. That's a whopping 11 seconds difference compared to the map pool's average! Such a large map can only remind us of Grand Line, another huge map that features a 46 seconds rush distance.Taking a brief look at Grand Line, what strikes me is how much this map invites offensive plays. Controlling the high-ground line in the middle of the map was key to launch successful attacks on your opponents bases. Control of the line would let you attack downhill into your opponent's low-ground naturals. Controlling the line would also let you take the 12 and 6 o'clock bases. Grand Line was all about controlling the line and offensive plays were necessary to get control of it. Neo.G_Soulkey was a master at using zerg's mobility to control the line late-game and abuse every terrans he fought on this map ( Soulkey is 5-0 in ZvT on Grandline SE).How does this relate to Empire of The Sun?Empire of The Sun is pretty much the anti-thesis to Grand Line. This map is all about giving the advantage to the defending player. If we take a look at the following picture.Player 1 is trying to push Player 2 away from Area B. His forces are stationed on area A. If Player 1 tries to attack . He will be running downhill into the low-ground (eating fire from siege tanks if Player 2 is Terran) then Player 1 forces will engage Player 2 , whom has the high-ground advantage on his side. Player 1's army needs to be much bigger if he wants to break Player 2's positions. Same goes if Player 2 wants to push into area A. He will have to fight a uphill battle against Player 1.Player 1 has his forces stationed on area C, he wants to push out Player 2 from his positions on area D. If Player 1 tries to attack, he is going to run in the low-ground in the middle of the map to try and break Player 2's positions, located on a high-ground. Even if Player 1 succeeds and breaks Area D, he still has to push from Area D to Area E to attack Player 2's natural (which brings us back to example 1).This shows that empire of the sun is a map that makes linear pushes extremely difficult to successfully deliver. Here is a game between Lomo and Jaehoon where I isolated 2 of the linear pushes made by both players.Jaehoon pushes Lomo forces through the middle. His whole dragoon force gets destroyed by lomo's tanks, located on the high-ground (area B). (Stop at 19:52)Watch Lomo donate his whole army while trying to push from area A to area D. (Stop at 21:05)Both players pretty much stopped pushing after meeting such catastrophic results.Let's take a look at the map once again.You can notice that there 2 additional push patterns, that are not really in a straight line but rather curvy, let's go over both of these too.Player 1 is trying to attack Player 2's 3rd at area B, he can basically move up to the high ground leading to area B and then attack it downhill. This is pretty much the easiest push pattern of this map. Even then, attacking through the ramp is not a very enjoyable perspective...Player 1 sitting in area C wants to boot Player 2 from area D. He can avoid having to attack from the low-ground by pushing through the green path. However, He is getting funneled through that choke and will still be engaging under terrible conditions.Circular pattern A to B is pretty much the only decent way to attack your opponent, even then. Once the base at area B is taken out you can't really push up the ramp (unless your opponent has not troops left). Overall the circular push patterns are not really better then the linear push patterns.Overall, Empire of The Sun is a map that gives the defending player an incredible advantage. However, the attacker can try to bypass this by recalling a lot, like Jaehoon did against Lomo, or dropping everywhere. Thus I think the island expansions are a really nice addition to the map since they give an additional motive to use drops a lot. I actually expect to see some very dynamic plays due to the players trying to work a way around the terrible push patterns.Time will tell...



Food for thought. Once you've digested the treat, let's move on to next week, with match previews brought to us by the one and only Harem.



Next Week's Previews

by Harem



Monday - 19:30 KST (OGN)





Tuesday - 18:00 KST (MBC)

. The other match is



Wednesday - 13:00 KST (MBC)

They may have lost Effort but Khan may have gotten off to a shaky start but now is the perfect time for them to make a resurgence as they playKT Rolster. Normally, KT would have the advantage but unfortunately for them, Stork just received a silver medal. Nothing powers up Stork like a silver medal. Plus, One Piece has been absolutely amazing lately and Stork clearly wants to get back to that as quickly as possible. Flash should just follow Ruby's lead and hit esc during the countdown to save himself from the wrath of Birdtoss.Hite andACE play in the other match at 18:00.Hwaseung andWemade may be close friends and practice with each other all the time but they will bear no such sentimentalities when they meet. Hwaseung is clearly going to be practicing their vT this week while Wemade will mainly focus on vZ. Strangely enough, the two top terrans on both teams (Hiya and Baby) are in a bit of a funk lately so hopefully, this series pulls them out of it. After all, who wouldn't want a Baby vs Jaedong/Hiya final with them all playing at their best. Wemade's effort will be all for naught though as they have no one that can top the perfect orgasmic play that is Kim Tae Gyun . The other match isACE vsSTX at 13:00.They may have lost Effort butHite Entus remains a team to be feared.Woongjin Stars are the team that nobody hates and everyone loves. These two together can make for one sick match. However, there needs to be just one condition. Zero must play a terran or Protoss. This may be even the perfect opportunity for Zero to erase his embarrassing 1-6 record vs Leta. If he loses then we get a sad Zero but a happy and cute Leta. If only we could have our cake and eat it too... Plus, any opportunity to see Soulkey ZvT is always a nice treat as a fan.SKT T1 andKhan play in the other match at 13:00.



That's what you can look forward to next week, as the games only start on Monday due to IEF. They can't come soon enough. Before we sign off, we leave you with an astounding discovery by our graphics master alffla, made while watching a game on Central Plains during the SKT vs Stars match.





BEHOLD THE SHINHAN BEAR



The Brood War proscene is in a twilight zone, skirting the edge of the abyss, with glory, starleague trophies and screaming fangirls on one side, the bottomless gloom of judicial proceedings on the other. Petty lawyers flap their gums and their dossiers filled with threats of legal injunction, raising a foul wind that pushes us closer to the pit. But we shall stand fast, as the root of the unshakable tree of progaming. We, the fans, unwavering in the face of the hailstorm, a mighty blizzard from the East.Rocking the Proleague ship as it approaches the edges of the Earth, the storm has sparked a mutiny onboard. Mid-tier players, backbenching A-teamers who were either the butt of jokes or completely forgotten have risen up and are taking games from top players. In these first two weeks of Proleague, some of them have equaled or even surpassed their entire 2009-2010 record. Old favorites and trusty workhorses alike were caught unprepared and taken to the woodshed. If Week One hadn't made it obvious yet, Week Two makes it clear as day: this is the new Proleague season -- new maps, new leaders, new rules.As our coverage kicks into full gear, let's grant a warm welcome to swanized, the newest member of the Proleague coverage team. He pored over the games and handpicked our Game of the Week. Take it away, swani!Epic games like that one are why we love Brood War. But we also have a secret fondness for another kind of game, and it's one of these, shall we say,games that treehugger recaps for us, in an epic saga of daring and adventure.What a tale! After such a spirited and high-level bout between two of the most memorable characters on the scene, it's time to settle down for a serious, chin-stroking analysis of one of the new Proleague maps, Empire of the Sun. swanized puts aside the rulers and stopwatches and brings us the results.Food for thought. Once you've digested the treat, let's move on to next week, with match previews brought to us by the one and only Harem.That's what you can look forward to next week, as the games only start on Monday due to IEF. They can't come soon enough. Before we sign off, we leave you with an astounding discovery by our graphics master alffla, made while watching a game on Central Plains during the SKT vs Stars match. This Proleague update was brought to you by Team Liquid's PL 2010-11 coverage team -- snowdrift, Harem, IntotheWow, tree.hugger and swanized. Many thanks to alffla for the stellar graphics! NaDa. Our Lord and sAviOr shall return. Learn to nydus you scrub