[MSL] Kings and Queens Text by flamewheel Graphics by disciple

Courtesy of disciple. Get hyped. Table of Contents



Hydra vs Flash Recap



Inevitability



Final Destination



Map Analysis



A Look at Series Play



Fan Interviews



Staff Predictions By flamewheel, ]343[, nbaker, l10f, swanized, and konadora



I can't believe it. With the exception of the Hydra-Flash battle reports, the entirety of this article is hype, hype, hype. And here I sit, bewildered--as usual, I don't know what to write for this little introduction.



And then I went back and read



What, you may ask, does this second article have to do with this final? It's all about the management. And no Zerg currently embodies the playstyle of the Maestro better than ZerO. Yes, EffOrt [and Hydra] are sAviOr's heirs... in name. But in terms of playstyle, look no further than ZerO. Strong defense. Fantastic anti-mech play. Queens.



And on the other side, we have Flash. Macro, micro, game sense--Flash is the last bonjwa.



At this point, I've bantered just enough--the perfect amount to not leave any blank lines. Now then, let us take a look at the excellent recap of the semifinal match between Hydra and Flash, courtesy of nbaker and konadora. Afterward, it's time to get down to the real part of this show.



Hydra vs Flash Recap

By nbaker and konadora

Semifinal B Set 1: Hydra < La Mancha > Flash

+ Show Spoiler + By nbaker



In Game 1 on La Mancha, Flash starts in the bottom left and Hydra starts in the top left. Hydra 12 hatches and sends his 12th drone across the map to scout for proxies, while Flash scouts Hydra in the first position he sends his SCV to, making him feel completely safe to expo at his natural. Hydra decides to place his third hatchery down rather than going for any kind of two hatch tech. At these spawning positions, Hydra would have to go around Flash’s main and natural to get to the natural cliff, which is the easiest place to do harassment with 2 hatch mutas and even so air distances are quite long on this map, making hive tech play much preferable to a more aggressive style. Flash, on the other hand, chases Hydra’s scouting drone out of his base and decides to take his second rax and gas at about the same time and follow up with an engineering bay before an academy.





Flash keeps Hydra in the dark before he starts his nonstandard build order.

Meanwhile, he sees the 3 hatch in Hydra’s base before his scv goes down.





This strategy gets the terran player a very fast +1 attack at the cost of a few barracks, meaning that Flash will have fewer marines, but they will be more potent. For a player with control as good as Flash’s, this can be a very advantageous exchange. Hydra plays with the standard 3 hatch mutalisks, but Flash, wanting to make sure that he can move out with his timing attack in good time, builds plenty of turrets to ensure that he won’t lose too many marines while defending and that he won’t have to stay in his base for too long. Macroing off of only two barracks, he has more than enough income to spare on this static defense. Hydra’s harassment is utterly repelled, killing only one SCV, but he does get his third up and finishes researching lurker aspect, so he is far from out of the game.





Hydra runs into +1 marines and turrets everywhere he goes.





Flash chases the mutas out into the middle and kills off a bunch of them.

Hydra can’t micro well enough.





Rather than get the minimum number of lurkers to defend his hatcheries and use his 3 gasses to tech straight to hive, Hydra decides to get a lot of lurkers and try to take some map control with them. The architecture of La Mancha seems to be ideal for this kind of strategy. If you look at the map, there are only two viable lanes of attack that Flash can use to get to Hydra’s base. The first through the 9 o’clock expansion, which can only be exited via a very narrow bridge, which lurkers could hold against a near infinite number of bio units, and the second, more likely route is over the left spoke of the center, which would require Flash’s army to attack into Lurkers on the high ground.





Hydra plans to delay his hive tech a little because he thinks he can shut down

Flash’s offense with lurkers and enter into hive tech with a larger ground army.

Flash, perhaps accounting for this, takes further advantage of his early gas to get a fast factory before his 3rd rax and a starport after that. This will allow him to range lurkers with tanks and get mobile detection and irradiate much more quickly. When Flash has two tanks with his army he moves out, chasing away Hydras mutas as he goes.





Flash has fewer marines when he pushes out, but they are upgraded and

supported by faster tech.

Hydra moves five lurkers into position, choosing not to put them on the high ground ridge, for some reason. My best guess would be that he was hoping to spring a stopped lurker trap on Flash as he pushed out, but it’s also conceivable that the diagonal nature of the spoke would make it too easy for Flash to focus on one lurker at a time. Either way, Flash scans the lurker field and spreads his marines beautifully, stimming them and killing all the lurkers with very minimal losses.



Before this, Flash psychically scanned the lurkers, allowing him to set up

perfectly to kill them off with ease.



It is true that with his tanks, Flash could have slowly chipped down on the lurkers without putting his bio force in danger, but this would be a huge blunder, as it would buy Hydra ample time to get his defilers out and would prevent Flash from killing all of the lurkers. Flash’s vessel finishes and joins his army while he moves up to control the high ground ridge, forcing Hydra to burrow his next batch of lurkers below him. The lurkers get shelled away by siege tanks and are forced to retreat left to try to set up a flank as Flash barrels towards Hydra’s natural, where lurkers are still being morphed.





Flash’s spread to kill lurkers earlier gave him control of the high ground,

making it impossible for Hydra to hold off the terran push.





Lurkers not finished!

Hydra plays tenaciously, flanking with his existing mutas and lurkers to buy time for the eggs to finish, and is able to mostly clean up Flash’s initial army (though at great loss to his own), but Flash cointinues stream units in, taking down Hydra’s natural hatchery and forcing the gg.





Hydra tries his best with a nice flank, but…





It’s not enough. In Game 1 on La Mancha, Flash starts in the bottom left and Hydra starts in the top left. Hydra 12 hatches and sends his 12th drone across the map to scout for proxies, while Flash scouts Hydra in the first position he sends his SCV to, making him feel completely safe to expo at his natural. Hydra decides to place his third hatchery down rather than going for any kind of two hatch tech. At these spawning positions, Hydra would have to go around Flash’s main and natural to get to the natural cliff, which is the easiest place to do harassment with 2 hatch mutas and even so air distances are quite long on this map, making hive tech play much preferable to a more aggressive style. Flash, on the other hand, chases Hydra’s scouting drone out of his base and decides to take his second rax and gas at about the same time and follow up with an engineering bay before an academy.This strategy gets the terran player a very fast +1 attack at the cost of a few barracks, meaning that Flash will have fewer marines, but they will be more potent. For a player with control as good as Flash’s, this can be a very advantageous exchange. Hydra plays with the standard 3 hatch mutalisks, but Flash, wanting to make sure that he can move out with his timing attack in good time, builds plenty of turrets to ensure that he won’t lose too many marines while defending and that he won’t have to stay in his base for too long. Macroing off of only two barracks, he has more than enough income to spare on this static defense. Hydra’s harassment is utterly repelled, killing only one SCV, but he does get his third up and finishes researching lurker aspect, so he is far from out of the game.Rather than get the minimum number of lurkers to defend his hatcheries and use his 3 gasses to tech straight to hive, Hydra decides to get a lot of lurkers and try to take some map control with them. The architecture of La Mancha seems to be ideal for this kind of strategy. If you look at the map, there are only two viable lanes of attack that Flash can use to get to Hydra’s base. The first through the 9 o’clock expansion, which can only be exited via a very narrow bridge, which lurkers could hold against a near infinite number of bio units, and the second, more likely route is over the left spoke of the center, which would require Flash’s army to attack into Lurkers on the high ground.Flash, perhaps accounting for this, takes further advantage of his early gas to get a fast factory before his 3rd rax and a starport after that. This will allow him to range lurkers with tanks and get mobile detection and irradiate much more quickly. When Flash has two tanks with his army he moves out, chasing away Hydras mutas as he goes.Hydra moves five lurkers into position, choosing not to put them on the high ground ridge, for some reason. My best guess would be that he was hoping to spring a stopped lurker trap on Flash as he pushed out, but it’s also conceivable that the diagonal nature of the spoke would make it too easy for Flash to focus on one lurker at a time. Either way, Flash scans the lurker field and spreads his marines beautifully, stimming them and killing all the lurkers with very minimal losses.It is true that with his tanks, Flash could have slowly chipped down on the lurkers without putting his bio force in danger, but this would be a huge blunder, as it would buy Hydra ample time to get his defilers out and would prevent Flash from killing all of the lurkers. Flash’s vessel finishes and joins his army while he moves up to control the high ground ridge, forcing Hydra to burrow his next batch of lurkers below him. The lurkers get shelled away by siege tanks and are forced to retreat left to try to set up a flank as Flash barrels towards Hydra’s natural, where lurkers are still being morphed.Hydra plays tenaciously, flanking with his existing mutas and lurkers to buy time for the eggs to finish, and is able to mostly clean up Flash’s initial army (though at great loss to his own), but Flash cointinues stream units in, taking down Hydra’s natural hatchery and forcing the gg.

Semifinal B Set 2: Hydra < Monte Cristo > Flash

+ Show Spoiler + By konadora



The game starts on Monte Cristo, with Flash spawning at the top left, and Hydra at the bottom right. Immediately, we notice something different. Hydra sends his 9th drone after building an overlord to the 1 o'clock position.



This drone served two purposes for his game plan. First was to spot for proxies, evident by his drone's movement at the 1:15th mark.





Drone scouting for proxies before mutating into a hatchery.

The drone scouts the area in front of his natural, then proceeds towards the 1 o'clock expansion area, thus practically scouting at two most possible proxy spots. No proxies. Good. Now Hydra proceeds to his next hidden card, a ninja expansion at 1 o'clock, a rather unorthodox play.



Usually, this spot is the typical third gas expansion choice taken during the Mutalisk spawning timing, as Mutalisks are able to provide safe cover for the building hatchery at the ramp. By building his first expansion hatchery at this spot, it caused 3 effects.



It made Flash get a Barracks first, thus denying a 14cc indirectly.



It forced Flash to choose an attack target; either the expansion or the natural.



Better economy (more minerals for saturation = better income).



"Oh shi- no expansion?!"

The first point is made obvious at the 1:53th mark. Flash scouted immediately after his supply depot was done, because Flash was planning to go flexible based on whether Hydra had expanded or not. Did Hydra expand? Yes. But to Flash, when the SCV had reached the natural, no. This could have meant a 9 pool, overpool or even 5 pool (it is a 2 player map after all), thus it was essential to Flash to get that first rax building as soon as he, or at least according to what he saw, 'discovered' that Hydra had not expanded. He would have gone 14cc but he didn't. Hydra, through this, was now ahead in terms of economic advantage by around 75:25. No Pool 3 Hatch at 3 bases vs 1 Rax CC. Bam, huge blow for Flash.



The second point is somewhat a double-edged sword. It forces Hydra to spend an extra more on defense (which however, is negated by the fact that Hydra had a huge economic start) in order to cover two bases, but once the resources from 3 bases starts kicking in, it would have led to a huge lead for Hydra. The special characteristics of this map allowed Hydra to expand in this manner.





Why this strategy works for this map - Good flanking positions.

No matter what direction Flash were to take, Hydra would have been able to cover both expansions with his Guardians and lurker/lings, both with high-ground advantage. The only reason why Hydra was at a huge danger zone at the 10 minute mark was because his mutalisks did nothing. With a mere 3 SCV kill count, Hydra was unable to delay Flash's standard 10-minute marine + medic + 3 tank + 1 vessel push, as a dozen turrets were already erected by the time the mutalisks arrived. This wasn't because Flash cut his economy for fast turrets, but because (as one of the commentators carefully pointed out) of the fact that Hydra had to replenish his drone count after spending half a dozen on static defences. Mutalisks thus arrived around 30 seconds later than usual, which is more than enough time to prepare all the necessary turrets.





The danger zone.

With three Siege Tanks shelling the sunkens and lurkers, with the Science Vessel providing detection and vision, as well as irradiating a bunch of mutas, Flash almost brought Hydra to his knees by nearly taking down the 1 o'clock expansion. However, Hydra manages to barely save his 1 o'clock expansion through lots of sacrificed lings and well-positioned guardians, and a clutch swarm going up. Hydra is now at a very comfortable lead.





Now THIS is a clutch swarm.





Notice all the marine blood. D:

Third point is pretty much self-explanatory. More minerals means better saturation, means better income. Hydra with a 7 mineral field and 1 geyser advantage, that's huge.



Flash now retreats what is left of his sad army, and proceeds to take his 2nd expansion at 8 o'clock. Flash has not opted to go for a late mech switch, instead pushing forward for the SK Terran build, putting down more barracks while pumping scie... oh wait, dropships?





Dropships... whaa? And three!?

With three fully loaded dropships, Flash was set to cripple Hydra's main and tip the economy to his advantage, and even possibly end the game right there. But not even God Young Ho is all-seeing, as Hydra's salute-worthy overlord saves the day by spotting the dropships, allowing Hydra to be fully prepared.





Hero Overlord.





All thanks to the overlord!





Into the lion's den.

Undeterred, Flash decides to go for more dropship harass, hoping to earn points through his multitasking capabilities, because he knew he was behind. It did shine at a few places, such as the harass at 7, where Hydra's inability to catch up to Flash's multitasking started to show.







A handful of marines does serious damage, considering how there were 2 lurkers, a dozen lings and a defiler there.

Meanwhile, Flash himself had expanded to the 8 o'clock expansion, all while continuing to attempt to harass via dropship play. But Hydra had already anticipated this, and after this...





Not a good day for dropships.

Flash had to give up using dropships.



It is from this moment that the two players' depth of understanding of this map started to become apparent. Flash understood this map perfectly, while Hydra was unable to fully grasp the complexity of this map.



The first event that displayed this was Flash's attack at Hydra's 5th gas expansion at 2 o'clock, and Hydra's subsequent loss of that base not once, but twice to just a handful of marines. Had this been a map like Fighting Spirit, it would have been easy to have that base secured, but this map is different.





Hydra loses his base to a few marines. Not a good trade, definitely.





Loses the same base just minutes later, once again to a handful of marines. Sloppy.





The map Hydra failed to understand.

Monte Cristo's 2/8 o'clock expansions have two wide (and I do mean, wide) entrances to them. This means unlike other maps such as Fighting Spirit or Dante's Peak SE, this requires more-than-usual unit positioning (such as lurkers, lings and/or defilers) at the expansion's high ground, moving between the two ramps in accordance to the marine/medic army movement. What Hydra failed to do was:



Failed to dispatch units at all (a grave mistake that will ultimately be the reason for the loss of this set)



(a grave mistake that will ultimately be the reason for the loss of this set) Failed to keep check with Flash's versatile semi-SK terran army movement (I call this semi-SK terran as tanks are used for defense while marine/medic/vessel army is the one doing the attacking)

Flash showed why this semi-SK terran build was the perfect build for this map. Flash's early armory (built even before his first 10-minute timing push) showed that he was already committed to getting lots of upgraded tanks for late game. This unit composition allowed huge flexibility on this map, because the army each had individual roles.



Marine/Medic: The late-game versatile units that allowed for both quick hit-and-run attacks and meat-shields for tanks.



Tanks: Dealing splash damage to kill as many units as possible before swarm is casted (when Hydra is on the offense) and to shut down 7 o'clock expansion through insane firepower and to provide cover for the central expansion at 8 o'clock and the eventual 7 o'clock expansion that Flash will take later on in the game.



to shut down 7 o'clock expansion through insane firepower to provide cover for the central expansion at 8 o'clock and the eventual 7 o'clock expansion that Flash will take later on in the game. Science Vessels: Irradiating defilers, ultralisks, providing map vision, 'erasing' drones' and most importantly, to pick off whatever unit that survived the tank shots and is left under a Dark Swarm.



A perfect example of this army composition in motion: Marine/Medic being meat shield for tanks as tanks uses its splash to destroy most of Hydra's army, even under dark swarm. Vessels are the cleanup crew.

The terrain layout of this map at the 2 o'clock/8 o'clock expansions allowed tanks to enjoy a greater role than it would have had on any other maps. It allowed Flash to be highly flexible with how he wanted to use his units. The reason why Hydra lost the 2 o'clock expansion so easily was because of how easy it was for Flash to set his army from defense to offense. Just a 15 second walk and his marine/medic army could travel from his natural or his third base to his opponent's third base or his natural. Other maps would require a much longer travel time, but this map didn't. For example,





Green: Tanks and its movement throughout the entire game

Red: Defended areas

Pink: Turrets for drops

By only moving along the green path, Flash is able to cover five bases (including the 7 o'clock expansion) while putting pressure on the stolen opponent's 7 o'clock expansion, all while not putting his tanks at risk, as the tanks are all on high ground most of the time. Flash's game plan was already set in place.



This is why we saw very little marine/medic throughout the game. Flash had sacrificed marine/medic count for tanks, as he saw the potential of tanks on this map. They are cheap after all, and easily replaceable, but tanks are not. The rest of the late game consisted of Flash trading marine/medic for ultralisks and zerglings, and vessels for defilers, scourges and drones. While it seemed like Hydra was doing a good job at keeping Flash's vessel count low, he failed to strike where it would hurt Flash the most - his tanks.





Not a very pleasant sight for Zerg users out there.

Hmm... wait, doesn't this scenario seem very familiar?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_Id-Ocldho

Oh. Right. The "I-used-up-all-my-gas-on-scourges-and-defilers-and-all-I-have-now-are-ultras-but-omfg-there-are-a-billion-tanks" scenario.



As Flash's tank count reached a critical mass, Hydra was slowly starting to feel the effect of losing that 5th base twice. His main's gas would have depleted by now, and his second and third base' geyser gas amount would probably have been reaching the 1000 mark. Hydra spent too much on scourges and ultralisks, leaving no gas for defilers.



And right at this moment, Flash decides to slowly leapfrog his way down to the 7 o'clock expansion and take it for himself. Normally, this could have been held off for a while with lurkers and dark swarm, but Hydra had already been preparing for something else - a huge doom drop at Flash's main.



But Flash had already anticipated this, and set up a Great Wall of Turrets. It was a difficult choice for Hydra. Risk losing his 4th base and commit to the drop (which already seemed to be heading for a huge fail) or pull back his drop army and attempt to save the 4th base. As it was already too late for the latter, Hydra went ahead with the drop. Oh how wrong a choice that was.





Why would you do this, Hydra?

The drop failed to do any serious damage, only picking off a bit of Flash's army, a couple of barracks and some depots, but not enough to cripple Flash's economy or production line.





While it seemed like Hydra's second attack at Flash's natural did to do some damage at first, I later had to point it out to myself that it was already running dry, and those SCV losses actually compensated for the loss of supply depots, thus freeing up supply and allowing Flash to resume production faster than usual. So, Hydra lost a dozen overlords, most of his entire ultraling + defiler army for a dozen units, SCVs and a few buildings. Oh, and let's not forget his 4th base too.



By now, Hydra's surviving on practically 1.5 gas, and has failed to obliterate Flash's base and take down Flash's tank count, all while continuously having his units picked off by irradiate.





Bad decision making by Hydra. Vessels thus come to punish him.

While Hydra's attack on Flash's 3rd base left Flash at practically zero income for a while, he did not do any real damage while he himself was losing his army to irradiate. What he should have done was take out the group of undefended tanks at 7 o'clock, by attacking from high ground. This could have saved Hydra, as his 2 o'clock base was starting to run, but he probably forget about them as he did not have vision (and due to this, I assume that he thought he had lost the 7 o'clock expansion to a more marine-medic heavy composition instead of mainly tanks). Vessels quickly came to reinforce, and irradiated the life out of the ultraling and the following defiler.





The tanks that could have won Hydra the game, had he taken them out.

Having fended off the huge drop and saving all his tanks, all Flash needed to do now was get his 3rd base running again, keep his tank count safe and cripple whatever economy that Hydra has. And he did this with style, trading vessels for drones, scourges, overlords and ultralisks once again. Flash was slowly squeezing Hydra dry.





Hydra would know by now that he's screwed.

Flash knows that Hydra doesn't have a real army anymore, and proceeds to cut Hydra's last lifeline - his 2 o'clock expansion. The army size difference is more than obvious by this point of time.





How do you hold this off when you're on 1.5 base?

Knowing that he can't engage Flash's army head on, with or without defilers, Hydra attempts to take down Flash's 3rd base once again. Flash already knew this (he was putting down a bunker) and pulls back his workers and lifts his command center. Economic damage for Flash? Almost none. For Hydra? His entire economy, gone.



Flash pulls back his army without a single loss and chases away Hydra's miserable army.





You know you're in bad position when your ultralisks are running away.

Hydra now tries everything to crawl his way back in, from a small crackling drop at Flash's main to even a fancy 1 lurker harass at Flash's 3rd base's mineral line. But a lack of a proper gas expansion is hurting, and he could do nothing but watch as Flash's vessels hover around freely to pick off his units.





Notice Hydra's economy. And how he has nothing to bring those vessels down.

Hydra's subsequent attacks do absolutely nothing. Flash sits comfortably with his marine medic tank army, and once he sees that Hydra's 2 o'clock expansion is up, he brings only his cost-effective marine + medic + vessel army to shut it down for the fourth time.





Hydra never got to savour this base at all.

With Hydra's last real expansion taken down and he himself having taken Hydra's former 7 o'clock expansion for himself, all Flash had to do was defend. And so he did.

















"I'm in yer ex-base, stealin' yer mineralz."





With no way of harassing Flash's two running bases while having none for himself, Hydra types out. GG.





This game was a fine example of just how far Flash was ahead. Not just mechanically, but in terms of his preparation. He understood the map better than any other Terrans did, and executed it perfectly, even despite Hydra's trump card strategy. Flash showed he could adapt; Hydra only showed stubbornness. Flash was already reading ten, twenty minutes into the game, and knew the key factors to winning under such a huge disadvantageous start. Hydra's insistence on ramming waves of units into Flash's Iron Curtain and his disappointing lack of usage of defilers was what cost him this game and the chance to reach the finals consecutively. Hydra just wasn't ready to face God himself yet.





Not quite there yet, son. The game starts on Monte Cristo, with Flash spawning at the top left, and Hydra at the bottom right. Immediately, we notice something different. Hydra sends his 9th drone after building an overlord to the 1 o'clock position.This drone served two purposes for his game plan. First was to spot for proxies, evident by his drone's movement at the 1:15th mark.The drone scouts the area in front of his natural, then proceeds towards the 1 o'clock expansion area, thus practically scouting at two most possible proxy spots. No proxies. Good. Now Hydra proceeds to his next hidden card, a ninja expansion at 1 o'clock, a rather unorthodox play.Usually, this spot is the typical third gas expansion choice taken during the Mutalisk spawning timing, as Mutalisks are able to provide safe cover for the building hatchery at the ramp. By building his first expansion hatchery at this spot, it caused 3 effects.The first point is made obvious at the 1:53th mark. Flash scouted immediately after his supply depot was done, because Flash was planning to go flexible based on whether Hydra had expanded or not. Did Hydra expand? Yes. But to Flash, when the SCV had reached the natural, no. This could have meant a 9 pool, overpool or even 5 pool (it is a 2 player map after all), thus it was essential to Flash to get that first rax building as soon as he, or at least according to what he saw, 'discovered' that Hydra had not expanded. He would have gone 14cc but he didn't. Hydra, through this, was now ahead in terms of economic advantage by around 75:25. No Pool 3 Hatchvs 1 Rax CC. Bam, huge blow for Flash.The second point is somewhat a double-edged sword. It forces Hydra to spend an extra more on defense (which however, is negated by the fact that Hydra had a huge economic start) in order to cover two bases, but once the resources from 3 bases starts kicking in, it would have led to a huge lead for Hydra. The special characteristics of this map allowed Hydra to expand in this manner.No matter what direction Flash were to take, Hydra would have been able to cover both expansions with his Guardians and lurker/lings, both with high-ground advantage. The only reason why Hydra was at a huge danger zone at the 10 minute mark was because his mutalisks did nothing. With a mere 3 SCV kill count, Hydra was unable to delay Flash's standard 10-minute marine + medic + 3 tank + 1 vessel push, as a dozen turrets were already erected by the time the mutalisks arrived. This wasn't because Flash cut his economy for fast turrets, but because (as one of the commentators carefully pointed out) of the fact that Hydra had to replenish his drone count after spending half a dozen on static defences. Mutalisks thus arrived around 30 seconds later than usual, which is more than enough time to prepare all the necessary turrets.With three Siege Tanks shelling the sunkens and lurkers, with the Science Vessel providing detection and vision, as well as irradiating a bunch of mutas, Flash almost brought Hydra to his knees by nearly taking down the 1 o'clock expansion. However, Hydra manages to barely save his 1 o'clock expansion through lots of sacrificed lings and well-positioned guardians, and a clutch swarm going up. Hydra is now at a very comfortable lead.Third point is pretty much self-explanatory. More minerals means better saturation, means better income. Hydra with a 7 mineral field and 1 geyser advantage, that's huge.Flash now retreats what is left of his sad army, and proceeds to take his 2nd expansion at 8 o'clock. Flash has not opted to go for a late mech switch, instead pushing forward for the SK Terran build, putting down more barracks while pumping scie... oh wait, dropships?With three fully loaded dropships, Flash was set to cripple Hydra's main and tip the economy to his advantage, and even possibly end the game right there. But not even God Young Ho is all-seeing, as Hydra's salute-worthy overlord saves the day by spotting the dropships, allowing Hydra to be fully prepared.Undeterred, Flash decides to go for more dropship harass, hoping to earn points through his multitasking capabilities, because he knew he was behind. It did shine at a few places, such as the harass at 7, where Hydra's inability to catch up to Flash's multitasking started to show.Meanwhile, Flash himself had expanded to the 8 o'clock expansion, all while continuing to attempt to harass via dropship play. But Hydra had already anticipated this, and after this...Flash had to give up using dropships.It is from this moment that the two players' depth of understanding of this map started to become apparent. Flash understood this map perfectly, while Hydra was unable to fully grasp the complexity of this map.The first event that displayed this was Flash's attack at Hydra's 5th gas expansion at 2 o'clock, and Hydra's subsequent loss of that base not once, butto just a handful of marines. Had this been a map like Fighting Spirit, it would have been easy to have that base secured, but this map is different.Monte Cristo's 2/8 o'clock expansions have two wide (and I do mean,) entrances to them. This means unlike other maps such as Fighting Spirit or Dante's Peak SE, this requires more-than-usual unit positioning (such as lurkers, lings and/or defilers) at the expansion's high ground, moving between the two ramps in accordance to the marine/medic army movement. What Hydra failed to do was:Flash showed why this semi-SK terran build wasperfect build for this map. Flash's early armory (built even before his first 10-minute timing push) showed that he was already committed to getting lots of upgraded tanks for late game. This unit composition allowed huge flexibility on this map, because the army each had individual roles.The terrain layout of this map at the 2 o'clock/8 o'clock expansions allowed tanks to enjoy a greater role than it would have had on any other maps. It allowed Flash to be highly flexible with how he wanted to use his units. The reason why Hydra lost the 2 o'clock expansion so easily was because of how easy it was for Flash to set his army from defense to offense. Just a 15 second walk and his marine/medic army could travel from his natural or his third base to his opponent's third base or his natural. Other maps would require a much longer travel time, but this map didn't. For example, Flash's epic game against Calm on Fighting Spirit displayed tanks used solely for defensive purposes, because expansions were too far and the middle of the map was too wide for tanks to safely defend and attack at the same time. However, on this map, tanks can be highly versatile.By only moving along the green path, Flash is able to coverbases (including the 7 o'clock expansion) while putting pressure on the stolen opponent's 7 o'clock expansion, all while not putting his tanks at risk, as the tanks are all on high ground most of the time. Flash's game plan was already set in place.This is why we saw very little marine/medic throughout the game. Flash had sacrificed marine/medic count for tanks, as he saw the potential of tanks on this map. They are cheap after all, and easily replaceable, but tanks are not. The rest of the late game consisted of Flash trading marine/medic for ultralisks and zerglings, and vessels for defilers, scourges and drones. While it seemed like Hydra was doing a good job at keeping Flash's vessel count low, he failed to strike where it would hurt Flash the most - his tanks.Hmm... wait, doesn't this scenario seem very familiar?Oh. Right. Thescenario.As Flash's tank count reached a critical mass, Hydra was slowly starting to feel the effect of losing that 5th base twice. His main's gas would have depleted by now, and his second and third base' geyser gas amount would probably have been reaching the 1000 mark. Hydra spent too much on scourges and ultralisks, leaving no gas for defilers.And right at this moment, Flash decides to slowly leapfrog his way down to the 7 o'clock expansion and take it for himself. Normally, this could have been held off for a while with lurkers and dark swarm, but Hydra had already been preparing for something else - a huge doom drop at Flash's main.But Flash had already anticipated this, and set up a Great Wall of Turrets. It was a difficult choice for Hydra. Risk losing his 4th base and commit to the drop (which already seemed to be heading for a huge fail) or pull back his drop army and attempt to save the 4th base. As it was already too late for the latter, Hydra went ahead with the drop. Oh how wrong a choice that was.The drop failed to do any serious damage, only picking off a bit of Flash's army, a couple of barracks and some depots, but not enough to cripple Flash's economy or production line.While it seemed like Hydra's second attack at Flash's natural did to do some damage at first, I later had to point it out to myself that it was already running dry, and those SCV losses actually compensated for the loss of supply depots, thus freeing up supply and allowing Flash to resume production faster than usual. So, Hydra lost a dozen overlords, most of his entire ultraling + defiler army for a dozen units, SCVs and a few buildings. Oh, and let's not forget his 4th base too.By now, Hydra's surviving on practically 1.5 gas, and has failed to obliterate Flash's base and take down Flash's tank count, all while continuously having his units picked off by irradiate.While Hydra's attack on Flash's 3rd base left Flash at practically zero income for a while, he did not do any real damage while he himself was losing his army to irradiate. What he should have done was take out the group of undefended tanks at 7 o'clock, by attacking from high ground. This could have saved Hydra, as his 2 o'clock base was starting to run, but he probably forget about them as he did not have vision (and due to this, I assume that he thought he had lost the 7 o'clock expansion to a more marine-medic heavy composition instead of mainly tanks). Vessels quickly came to reinforce, and irradiated the life out of the ultraling and the following defiler.Having fended off the huge drop and saving all his tanks, all Flash needed to do now was get his 3rd base running again, keep his tank count safe and cripple whatever economy that Hydra has. And he did this with style, trading vessels for drones, scourges, overlords and ultralisks once again. Flash was slowly squeezing Hydra dry.Flash knows that Hydra doesn't have a real army anymore, and proceeds to cut Hydra's last lifeline - his 2 o'clock expansion. The army size difference is more than obvious by this point of time.Knowing that he can't engage Flash's army head on, with or without defilers, Hydra attempts to take down Flash's 3rd base once again. Flash already knew this (he was putting down a bunker) and pulls back his workers and lifts his command center. Economic damage for Flash? Almost none. For Hydra? His entire economy, gone.Flash pulls back his army without a single loss and chases away Hydra's miserable army.Hydra now tries everything to crawl his way back in, from a small crackling drop at Flash's main to even a fancy 1 lurker harass at Flash's 3rd base's mineral line. But a lack of a proper gas expansion is hurting, and he could do nothing but watch as Flash's vessels hover around freely to pick off his units.Hydra's subsequent attacks do absolutely nothing. Flash sits comfortably with his marine medic tank army, and once he sees that Hydra's 2 o'clock expansion is up, he brings only his cost-effective marine + medic + vessel army to shut it down for the fourth time.With Hydra's last real expansion taken down and he himself having taken Hydra's former 7 o'clock expansion for himself, all Flash had to do was defend. And so he did.With no way of harassing Flash's two running bases while having none for himself, Hydra types out. GG.This game was a fine example of just how far Flash was ahead. Not just mechanically, but in terms of his preparation. He understood the map better than any other Terrans did, and executed it perfectly, even despite Hydra's trump card strategy. Flash showed he could adapt; Hydra only showed stubbornness. Flash was already reading ten, twenty minutes into the game, and knew the key factors to winning under such a huge disadvantageous start. Hydra's insistence on ramming waves of units into Flash's Iron Curtain and his disappointing lack of usage of defilers was what cost him this game and the chance to reach the finals consecutively. Hydra just wasn't ready to face God himself yet.

Semifinal B Set 3: Hydra < Circuit Breaker > Flash

+ Show Spoiler + By nbaker



Game 3 starts on Circuit Breaker with Flash at the top left and Hydra at the bottom left. Although he looks visibly shaken after losing such a big advantage last game and going down 0-2 in the series, Hydra keeps level enough to open standard, hatching on 12 and drone scouting cross map for proxies. Flash feels confident that he can beat Hydra without antics after Game 2, so he opens up with standard play as well, building a barracks on 11 and following up with a fast command center. Hydra tries to go up Flash’s ramp with his drone just as Flash’s first marine finishes, but is chased out before he can get an eye on the terran’s build. Hydra decides to play with 3 hatcheries. Vertical positions are ideal for 2 hatch mutalisks on Circuit Breaker, as you can rally straight towards the terran’s natural cliff and harass there while expanding across from him and the mutas can lock down the natural choke and harass the scv line while lurkers and hive tech finish. However, Hydra favors the safer 3 hatch option, hoping to exploit the bridges and wide open center with hive tech play rather than try to apply early economic damage. Flash gets an e-bay with +1 attack followed by an academy for stim and range. Flash then goes straight up to 4 barracks, which are timed to finish around when Hydra’s spire completes, allowing him to push out with a large, upgraded marine force just as Hydra is hoping to do some harassment and force him to fight outside his base.





Flash’s tank and science vessel are delayed due to his heavy spending on barracks

in the early game, but he can put on a lot of pressure with his early bio force.

Hydra sends him mutalisks over and Flash moves out onto the high ground pod to avoid engaging on the bridges. Hydra micros his mutas very well, carving down Flash’s infantry purely by controlling better and manages to clean up Flash’s first attacking force with the aid of a few supporting zerglings.





Hydra handles the first pressure quite well, but the 4 early barracks means

Flash can resupply quickly

However, Flash is undeterred as he continues to pump out more bio units off his 4 barracks, while going up to a fifth and starting his factory. Hydra, who took a relatively fast third base before starting his mutas, has now finished lurker tech and sends a pair over to hold the 3rd’s ramp and starts his Queen’s Nest while his mutas and lings try to keep control of the middle. Flash makes numerous attempts to push across the map with his mobile medic and marine army, but Hydra does well to shut Flash down. First, he uses his muta ling force to pinch Flash’s units and kill them off.





In small numbers muta ling is an effective counter to bio.

As Flash’s armies get bigger and bigger, Hydra switches tactics to threatening with a backstab, leaving lurkers burrowed outside Flash’s natural and running zerglings up the high ground pod, which forces Flash to pull back across the double bridges.





When the muta ling force can no longer engage directly, Hydra exploits the

double entrance to the natural to delay Flash’s push

Flash waits until his science vessel finishes to truly commit to a push, clearing out Hydra’s pinning lurkers and then attacking across the map. Hydra once again leaves a bunch of lurkers unsupported by swarms out in the open, hoping to force Flash to stop and siege, but Flash just spreads his marines, stims, kills them off quickly and continues his advance.





Flash’s ultra aggressive play against lurkers allows him to get to his opponent’s natural sooner

than more conservative terrans, who would let their siege tanks handle the lurkers.

Hydra’s defilers finish just as Flash reaches his natural, but with all the lurkers killed off, Hydra has little to push Flash back and is forced to use his dark swarms only to delay Flash.





Hydra does not have enough muscle to retake control of his bridges, meaning

he will be contained for the rest of the game.

Flash does pull back when he scans Hydra’s fourth base, realizing that he needs to kill it off as he has yet to take a third, but he leaves five tanks outside the natural to force Hydra to continue using dark swarms and prevent him from countering. Hydra is using his mutalisks and zerglings, which cannot engage Flash’s army, to patrol for a third and keep Flash on a weak economy while he turtles up and tries to get a big hive tech army to fight against Flash in the middle. Flash easily forces a cancel on Hydra’s fourth base, but misses an opportunity to take down the third due to inattention.









Flash could have ran his marines up the left side and killed off the third, but he

was busy preparing to attack Hydra’s natural and missed his chance.

However, Flash is sending all his reinforcing units to Hydra’s sieged natural, breaking the darkswarm defense by getting a few vultures in there to lay down mines while the zerg is still morphing his reinforcing lurkers. The lurkers are unable to get under the swarm without being hit by spider mines and Flash breaks into the natural.





Hydra can’t get under his own swarms…



So Flash is able to run past them and bust his natural

Hydra’s rallied reinforcements cannot put a dent in Flash’s army and Hydra ggs as Flash forces his way into his main.



Game 3 starts on Circuit Breaker with Flash at the top left and Hydra at the bottom left. Although he looks visibly shaken after losing such a big advantage last game and going down 0-2 in the series, Hydra keeps level enough to open standard, hatching on 12 and drone scouting cross map for proxies. Flash feels confident that he can beat Hydra without antics after Game 2, so he opens up with standard play as well, building a barracks on 11 and following up with a fast command center. Hydra tries to go up Flash’s ramp with his drone just as Flash’s first marine finishes, but is chased out before he can get an eye on the terran’s build. Hydra decides to play with 3 hatcheries. Vertical positions are ideal for 2 hatch mutalisks on Circuit Breaker, as you can rally straight towards the terran’s natural cliff and harass there while expanding across from him and the mutas can lock down the natural choke and harass the scv line while lurkers and hive tech finish. However, Hydra favors the safer 3 hatch option, hoping to exploit the bridges and wide open center with hive tech play rather than try to apply early economic damage. Flash gets an e-bay with +1 attack followed by an academy for stim and range. Flash then goes straight up to 4 barracks, which are timed to finish around when Hydra’s spire completes, allowing him to push out with a large, upgraded marine force just as Hydra is hoping to do some harassment and force him to fight outside his base.Hydra sends him mutalisks over and Flash moves out onto the high ground pod to avoid engaging on the bridges. Hydra micros his mutas very well, carving down Flash’s infantry purely by controlling better and manages to clean up Flash’s first attacking force with the aid of a few supporting zerglings.However, Flash is undeterred as he continues to pump out more bio units off his 4 barracks, while going up to a fifth and starting his factory. Hydra, who took a relatively fast third base before starting his mutas, has now finished lurker tech and sends a pair over to hold the 3rd’s ramp and starts his Queen’s Nest while his mutas and lings try to keep control of the middle. Flash makes numerous attempts to push across the map with his mobile medic and marine army, but Hydra does well to shut Flash down. First, he uses his muta ling force to pinch Flash’s units and kill them off.As Flash’s armies get bigger and bigger, Hydra switches tactics to threatening with a backstab, leaving lurkers burrowed outside Flash’s natural and running zerglings up the high ground pod, which forces Flash to pull back across the double bridges.Flash waits until his science vessel finishes to truly commit to a push, clearing out Hydra’s pinning lurkers and then attacking across the map. Hydra once again leaves a bunch of lurkers unsupported by swarms out in the open, hoping to force Flash to stop and siege, but Flash just spreads his marines, stims, kills them off quickly and continues his advance.Hydra’s defilers finish just as Flash reaches his natural, but with all the lurkers killed off, Hydra has little to push Flash back and is forced to use his dark swarms only to delay Flash.Flash does pull back when he scans Hydra’s fourth base, realizing that he needs to kill it off as he has yet to take a third, but he leaves five tanks outside the natural to force Hydra to continue using dark swarms and prevent him from countering. Hydra is using his mutalisks and zerglings, which cannot engage Flash’s army, to patrol for a third and keep Flash on a weak economy while he turtles up and tries to get a big hive tech army to fight against Flash in the middle. Flash easily forces a cancel on Hydra’s fourth base, but misses an opportunity to take down the third due to inattention.However, Flash is sending all his reinforcing units to Hydra’s sieged natural, breaking the darkswarm defense by getting a few vultures in there to lay down mines while the zerg is still morphing his reinforcing lurkers. The lurkers are unable to get under the swarm without being hit by spider mines and Flash breaks into the natural.Hydra’s rallied reinforcements cannot put a dent in Flash’s army and Hydra ggs as Flash forces his way into his main.

As hyped up as that semifinal was, it was a disappointment. Game 2 was interesting, but the others... were not. Hydra couldn't deliver, and that's a good thing in this case. After all, TvZ is more interesting than ZvZ. So then, where were we? Oh yes. To the pregame hype!



Inevitability

By flamewheel

Allegedly doctors can no longer completely cure [my wrists]. But they also say that it is not a huge problem right now. I am trying hard during the times that there are no games to rest a lot, after this when I have time I need to seriously treat it. From Flash's interview after his match against Hydra

I've never been a sensationalist, and I don't want to jump to conclusions. However, this isn't something that can just be brushed aside or written off.



Incurable--it's a word that rarely has any positive connotation to it. It's a term that causes sadness and depression. It's a sign of mortality, of inevitability.





You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability... It is the sound of your death... Goodbye, Mr. Anderson...

Well, actually Smith, that's actually the sound of a quickly-approaching train.





And being run over by a train still kills you. Your point?

Death cannot be cheated. For those of you who have watched The Matrix series, you know that Mr. Anderson does indeed die. And in the same sense that the oncoming train is about to splatter poor Mr. Anderson like a Banshee splatters a hapless Halo player, Flash's wrist problems will end his career.



But inevitability doesn't always mean that whatever is to happen will occur immediately.





My name is Neo.

Mr. Anderson/Neo is not killed by the train. He goes on to lead the human resistance to an eventual victory, pyrrhic as it is. In the end, Smith, the Agent of inevitability, does cause the end of Neo. But not for some period of time.



And time is something that Flash still has. Whether his "time" is a week or another couple years, we still don't know. Eventually, his hands will force his retirement. But that will not be today.



Flash still has a final to win.



I've been toying with this theory in my mind for a while now--the theory that NaDa has already set the boundary for achievements in professional Brood War, and that his line would not be crossed. And for most of this year so far, it's held true. Of all the progamers in the pool, Flash and Jaedong are the only two who are close to beating NaDa's record (come see me when Bisu wins an OSL or something). When Jaedong won his fifth gold, Flash was there to deny him the sixth for the next three tries. And now Flash is at five himself. Both Flash and Jaedong have been stymied in their attempts to win that crucial sixth gold. Flash was knocked out of PDPop by Ssak and Classic, and Jaedong by Hydra. In the Bacchus OSL, both didn't survive the Round Robin. Jaedong is now out of this MSL because of ZerO, ruining the chance of a guaranteed Golden Badge, and I had a fear that Flash, too, would be similarly eliminated by Hydra.



Of course, the same was said about Roger Federer, that he couldn't beat Pete Sampras's record. But, as we all know, that was not the case. And the same shall happen for Brood War. This final is Flash's to win, injured or not, and he'll have to bring his best to take out ZerO.





Shoot him! He's only mortal.

But it can, and it will be done. We've seen the miracles Flash can perform with his hands and brains. The anti-mutalisk micro, the maphack cheese detection, the marine splits--Flash is Brood War. He's demonstrated over and over that he can break the game. And very soon, he will be showing us that he is capable of tying, and hopefully breaking, NaDa's record.



With his death, Neo forced the cessation of war between the machines and the humans. He saved the human race. In the universe of the Matrix, there was no bigger feat than that.



Flash is the Neo of Brood War. He is The One, and nothing, not ZerO, not his wrist injuries, not 2012, will stop him from taking this MSL. And if indeed he does have to retire after this, what a way to go out, eh?





Flash's face is sillier than Keanu Reeves'.

Apologies for all you folks out there who haven't watched The Matrix movies--they're good, go watch them. In essence though, what I'm trying to say that Flash's time is limited. And while I'm not a big fan of or believer in fate, believing in such does make for such a better story line. It's now or never, Flash.



Final Destination

By swanized

To properly understand the implications of a Zero-Flash encounter in the finals, it's necessary to take a trip back through many eras of Starcraft. A travel to 2007, before the match-fixing scandal, back when Savior's dominance had just been bought to an end by the revolutionist. A travel back to the 2007 Daum OSL, back when Flash first emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the Starcraft world.



The storyline was perfect. A young rookie who would move on to become the strongest player of all time had made it through the prelims, survived his Ro16 group, and even took out Bisu--at the time the best player in the world--in a best-of-three series. Flash was walking the royal road toward his first OSL title, and royal roading seemed a likely situation. However, at this first crossroad in Flash's brilliant career stood one man, one battle-wearied veteran on the Hanbit Stars (Woongjin Stars' old name) roster that would put a halt to Flash's seemingly unstoppable momentum. This man was a zerg player named GGPlay.



Since the dawn of Starcraft, zerg players have always been separated into two primary schools of thought: the aggressive zerg, a style where the zerg player tries to win the game or gain an advantage through early/mid-game aggression, and the management zerg, a much more defensively-oriented playstyle where the zerg player tries to win the game through late-game management. Whilst the modern management zerg was primarily developed thanks to sAviOr's revolutions back in 2006, it's much better epitomized by GGPlay's play throughout the Daum OSL 2007. Abusive hold lurkers usage, brilliant unit positioning and sunken placement to comeback against Hwasin on Hitchhiker, brilliant mutalisk usage to hold off Iris' savage assaults in the third game of their series, perfect defiler usage throughout the tournament--GGPlay was the greatest embodiment of the management zerg.



Cool story bro, but how is this relevant to this MSL's finals? The management zerg is now a near extinct style of play. Even sAviOr's heirs, EffOrt and Hydra, are nowadays considered aggressive zergs, leaving only one last man standing to express the beautiful and artful side of a zerg's skill set, GGPlay's apprentice and heir on Woongjin Stars, Zero.





IF ANYONE HAS A BETTER PICTURE WHERE ZERO LOOKS LIKE A BADASS AND NOT A CUTE LITTLE KITTEN PLEASE SHARE.

Once again, Flash is standing at a great crossroad in his career, possibly the greatest. Flash finally has an opportunity to equalize Nada's title number record and become the greatest player of all time. This, however, may also very well be the final crossroad for Flash. With his wrist condition declining with every passing moment, it is uncertain whether Flash will be able to make another starleague final. How fitting then, that the last man who stands in his path toward eternal glory is Zero, heir to the one who denied him his very first claim to fame.



Eternal glory, however, is perhaps an unattainable chimera for Flash. Zero always plays brilliant Starcraft against Flash. In their last encounter, he won using queens to destroy mech for the very first time in what was a perfect dismantlement of the best player in the world, causing a mini-revolution in ZvT. Before that there was their infamous encounter on Polaris Rhapsody where Zero taught us an absolutely astounding lesson in modern ZvMech that would have been enough to take out Flash on any map but Polaris Rhapsody. Even before that there was a Bo3 during the Nate MSL where Zero showed a bewildering new muta timing that caught Flash with his pants down in the second game of the series. And now we come back to the present day. Zero is currently playing some of the finest Starcraft of his career. Zero just finished completely destroying terran mech thanks to his queens. Zero just managed to take back-to-back best-of-five series against some of the greatest ZvZers of a generation. Zero finally showed he was now able to get his shit together and play some good Starcraft for more then two straight games. The way I feel about Zero's current form is the exact same way I felt about GGPlay's play during the Daum OSL when he stopped Flash for the very first time--mechanically perfect, strategically brilliant, flawless in form.



Flash is currently heading full steam toward what certainly is the greatest, and possibly the final, crossroad of his career. Guarding the path however, stands one last obstacle. One man lusting for the title of greatest ever. Another man, determined to repeat his ancestor's feat to throw Flash off the top of the mountain. On the 11th of June, both players have a rendezvous with history at the final destination. Both are worthy of the title, yet only one to be declared the victor...





The final confrontation.

So when I was in New York, I taught l10f some Tetris. What he didn't know was that I put a tracer in his food. Still, he's a slippery one--it took me quite a while to catch him, tie him down, slap him with a haddock, and finally convince him to write something for the MSL. As a balancing counterpart, nbaker has also consented to take a look at the map pool to make some in-depth predictions.



Map Analysis

By nbaker and l10f







Set 1: Monte Cristo

nbaker: Monte Cristo is an interesting map to be played twice in this series. Although its 2-5 TvZ statistics would seem to point to it favoring Zerg, especially considering one of Terrans’ two wins on the map was



l10f: If Flash had a second choice to thumb a map down, it would definitely be this map. Not only is the TvZ statistics dreadful on this map, the only two wins come from Reality and Flash. Remember the build reality used? He knew he would be no match for Jaedong on a standard game on this map. With multiple pathways in the center, once it gets to late game, it is very difficult for Terran to keep all their expansions in check while harassing or attacking the Zerg. Without a sniping build like Reality, Flash will have to play a game similar to his game against Hydra on this map, and if he does, ZerO won't make the same mistakes Hydra did.



nbaker: Zero comes prepared with creative queen play and takes the first game. ZerO 1-0 Flash

l10f: ZerO 1-0 Flash



Set 2: La Mancha

nbaker: This is the map Zero thumbed down and it could be a tough one for him. The main concern is that the middle of the map has a lot of terrain, with an impassible center. To make matters worse, there are cliffs coming out from each ridge, meaning that a player has to attack up into the high ground if they want to engage and flank in the center of the map. I could see Zero trying a two hatch mutalisk strategy on this map to try to get some kind of control in the early game and ride an advantage into the late game. Alternatively, we’ve seen in



l10f: ZerO thumbed down this map for a reason. Terrans have over 60% winrate on this map, and it's because of the way the center is designed. The wide open center might lead you to believe that it is actually good for Zerg, but it helps against marine vs lurker micro, and there is a very clear push path once Terran techs to mech. There aren't much room for Zerg to harass and pressure Terran as Terran can push slowly, taking expansions on the way. However, ZerO is especially good on these maps. He is very good at taking down defenses that look impenetrable. Remember ZerO vs Flash on Benzene? I expect something like that to happen on this map. Either way, this will be a long game unless ZerO tries to do something cheeky. This will be a very close game, but I believe ZerO will edge it out again.



nbaker: Flash wins with a timing attack before hive tech and ties the series. 1-1 Flash

l10f: ZerO 2-0 Flash



Set 3: Circuit Breaker

nbaker: This should be the game of the night in my opinion. This is an extensively played map with an even 43-43 win ratio in TvZ. Flash and Zero’s TvZ statistics on this map are equally balanced, with both being 4-2 in the matchup. Unlike La Mancha, the center of Circuit Breaker is completely open and perfect for big lurker ling or ultra ling flanks with defiler support. The open center is also ideal for medic marine play, which Flash has preferred all season. The double bridges and narrow choke leading into each natural should be fairly easy for Zero to control, so he shouldn’t have too much difficulty securing a fourth gas. Flash, meanwhile, will use his classic bio play to put as much pressure on Zero as he can. Flash can secure a third fairly easily by going to the mineral only which can only be attacked via the high ground pod or the narrow bridges. If the game goes late, Flash will have to expand past the mineral only third to get another gas, and this is where Zero will need to shut him down. If Zero is able to keep Flash on 3 bases and 2 gas while getting a robust economy of his own, he should take the game, but Flash will have beautifully controlled marines and tricky drop ship play to prevent him from doing so.



l10f: This map is very fun to watch TvZ. There have been many great games, and to reflect that, the TvZ stats are even. However, unlike the last two maps, bionic play is extremely good on this map. There are a lot of room for the units to maneuver, and Flash's godly MnM micro can really shine on this map. ZerO has shown to play significantly better against mech Terran than bio Terran. This game will be very interesting to watch if it gets to hive tech, but I doubt Flash will take more than 15 minutes on winning this one. ZerO will simply get outplayed by Flash's bio micro and macro.



nbaker: Zero shows why he is the ZerO 2-1 Flash

l10f: 2-1 Flash



Set 4: Dante's Peak SE

nbaker: This is the map Flash thumbed down, and anyone can see why. Although the 16-10 TvZ map statistics point to a Flash advantage, an examination of the way the successful Terrans have played this map shows that most of them favored the nouveau 3 rax into mass factory build. Flash never seems to have bought into this new build, and if he chooses to use it, he will have to contend with Zero’s queen counter, which both



l10f: I can see why Flash thumbed this map down. Somewhat. Bio heavy armies don't do that well against Zerg on this map past mid game. A lot of expansions are easily protected by a couple of lurkers and a defiler. There are a lot of ways the army could be flanked. The strength of a bionic army is its mobility, and without great dropship use, there won't be this advantage on this map once defilers are out. All this is favoring the mech switch mid game, but as we know, Woongjin Zergs rape that build. So Flash is probably going to do some cheesy strategy here. You heard it here first folks. Of course, it's going to get shut down hard by ZerO.



nbaker: Flash cheeses if he is up in the series and plays bionic if he's down. Zero wins either way. ZerO 3-1 Flash

l10f: ZerO 3-1 Flash



Set 5: Monte Cristo

nbaker: Game 5 will be determined by the players’ mindset going into it. If Flash started out with the series lead and Zero took it back, Zero will be riding high and should be able to take down the fifth game. Conversely, if Zero started out strong, but Flash muscled him out down the stretch, Zero will be discouraged and Flash will be tasting that golden badge and will win game 5. Personally, I think that Flash’s superior experience in best of 5 series play and his motivation to tie Nada as the most successful individual league player ever will give him the edge he needs to bring home the win.



l10f: See game 1. ZerO wins ezpz.



nbaker: If it isn’t Zero in 4, it will be Flash in 5. His stronger mental fortitude will win him the series. 2-3 Flash

l10f: ZerO 4-1 Flash

Monte Cristo is an interesting map to be played twice in this series. Although its 2-5 TvZ statistics would seem to point to it favoring Zerg, especially considering one of Terrans’ two wins on the map was Reality’s ridiculous build against Jaedong , it is interesting to remember that many of us on Teamliquid thought that this map would be extremely difficult for Zerg when it was first presented. The way this map has played out for the most part is that the Zerg and Terran split the map vertically, with the Zerg taking quicker expansions and trying to kill the Terran player before he can mine from all of his available expos. If Flash plays a heavy bio style this game, he’s going to lose to Zero’s management. Aside from the destructible temple, there are only two lanes to attack from, both quite narrow. All Zero would need to do is get defilers and lurkers in those two key positions and he will be able to get on 4 gasses basically for free and punish Flash from there. Flash could either go full out mech or use the bio opening and transition to heavy tank play as Zero gets his hive tech up. Tanks are very effective on this map as every expansion needs to approached from the low ground up to the high ground, so he would have an easier time getting his own four gasses up and choking Zero out. However, as we all know, Zero has a pretty good counter to heavy tank play , and if we do see queens used in this series, my bet is on this map. If Zero is able to break Flash’s tank defenses with his queens and defiler play, and deny the terran his bases, we should see Zero take the first map. However, if Flash is able to protect his tanks and secure his side of the map, the macro machine should be able to slowly suffocate his opponent and take game 1.If Flash had a second choice to thumb a map down, it would definitely be this map. Not only is the TvZ statistics dreadful on this map, the only two wins come from Reality and Flash. Remember the build reality used? He knew he would be no match for Jaedong on a standard game on this map. With multiple pathways in the center, once it gets to late game, it is very difficult for Terran to keep all their expansions in check while harassing or attacking the Zerg. Without a sniping build like Reality, Flash will have to play a game similar to his game against Hydra on this map, and if he does, ZerO won't make the same mistakes Hydra did.Zero comes prepared with creative queen play and takes the first game.1-01-0This is the map Zero thumbed down and it could be a tough one for him. The main concern is that the middle of the map has a lot of terrain, with an impassible center. To make matters worse, there are cliffs coming out from each ridge, meaning that a player has to attack up into the high ground if they want to engage and flank in the center of the map. I could see Zero trying a two hatch mutalisk strategy on this map to try to get some kind of control in the early game and ride an advantage into the late game. Alternatively, we’ve seen in Hydra’s game against Mind on La Mancha that Zerg can have success giving up all map control and camping 4 gasses through the mid game, then using drops and full hive tech to circumvent the disadvantageous center going into the late game. The problem with this is that Flash showed excellent micro against lurkers in his series against Hydra, which will make it harder for Zero to effectively defend his 4 bases and get to that point.ZerO thumbed down this map for a reason. Terrans have over 60% winrate on this map, and it's because of the way the center is designed. The wide open center might lead you to believe that it is actually good for Zerg, but it helps against marine vs lurker micro, and there is a very clear push path once Terran techs to mech. There aren't much room for Zerg to harass and pressure Terran as Terran can push slowly, taking expansions on the way. However, ZerO is especially good on these maps. He is very good at taking down defenses that look impenetrable. Remember ZerO vs Flash on Benzene? I expect something like that to happen on this map. Either way, this will be a long game unless ZerO tries to do something cheeky. This will be a very close game, but I believe ZerO will edge it out again.Flash wins with a timing attack before hive tech and ties the series. ZerO 1-12-0This should be the game of the night in my opinion. This is an extensively played map with an even 43-43 win ratio in TvZ. Flash and Zero’s TvZ statistics on this map are equally balanced, with both being 4-2 in the matchup. Unlike La Mancha, the center of Circuit Breaker is completely open and perfect for big lurker ling or ultra ling flanks with defiler support. The open center is also ideal for medic marine play, which Flash has preferred all season. The double bridges and narrow choke leading into each natural should be fairly easy for Zero to control, so he shouldn’t have too much difficulty securing a fourth gas. Flash, meanwhile, will use his classic bio play to put as much pressure on Zero as he can. Flash can secure a third fairly easily by going to the mineral only which can only be attacked via the high ground pod or the narrow bridges. If the game goes late, Flash will have to expand past the mineral only third to get another gas, and this is where Zero will need to shut him down. If Zero is able to keep Flash on 3 bases and 2 gas while getting a robust economy of his own, he should take the game, but Flash will have beautifully controlled marines and tricky drop ship play to prevent him from doing so.This map is very fun to watch TvZ. There have been many great games, and to reflect that, the TvZ stats are even. However, unlike the last two maps, bionic play is extremely good on this map. There are a lot of room for the units to maneuver, and Flash's godly MnM micro can really shine on this map. ZerO has shown to play significantly better against mech Terran than bio Terran. This game will be very interesting to watch if it gets to hive tech, but I doubt Flash will take more than 15 minutes on winning this one. ZerO will simply get outplayed by Flash's bio micro and macro.Zero shows why he is the best management Zerg and takes a nail biting game 2.2-1 ZerO 2-1This is the map Flash thumbed down, and anyone can see why. Although the 16-10 TvZ map statistics point to a Flash advantage, an examination of the way the successful Terrans have played this map shows that most of them favored the nouveau 3 rax into mass factory build. Flash never seems to have bought into this new build, and if he chooses to use it, he will have to contend with Zero’s queen counter, which both he and Soulkey have repeatedly proven handles it quite effectively. If Flash plays bio, he’s going to have to deal with all the high ground, where Zero can burrow lurkers and greatly delay and kind of push Flash tries to move out with. The other option is to go full mech on this map, which could work, but would allow Zero to take a lot of bases early on without having an obvious place for Flash to split it and take his half to catch up. This would be my pick for Flash’s patented 8 rax in series play, but the fact that he thumbed it down could make Zero more conscientious about scouting. If Flash doesn’t cheese, I expect him to disregard the map architecture and go bio anyways, maybe with a few more tanks than he would normally incorporate, which is still a very strong build as long as his control is better than Zero’s.I can see why Flash thumbed this map down. Somewhat. Bio heavy armies don't do that well against Zerg on this map past mid game. A lot of expansions are easily protected by a couple of lurkers and a defiler. There are a lot of ways the army could be flanked. The strength of a bionic army is its mobility, and without great dropship use, there won't be this advantage on this map once defilers are out. All this is favoring the mech switch mid game, but as we know, Woongjin Zergs rape that build. So Flash is probably going to do some cheesy strategy here. You heard it here first folks. Of course, it's going to get shut down hard by ZerO.Flash cheeses if he is up in the series and plays bionic if he's down. Zero wins either way.3-13-1Game 5 will be determined by the players’ mindset going into it. If Flash started out with the series lead and Zero took it back, Zero will be riding high and should be able to take down the fifth game. Conversely, if Zero started out strong, but Flash muscled him out down the stretch, Zero will be discouraged and Flash will be tasting that golden badge and will win game 5. Personally, I think that Flash’s superior experience in best of 5 series play and his motivation to tie Nada as the most successful individual league player ever will give him the edge he needs to bring home the win.See game 1. ZerO wins ezpz.If it isn’t Zero in 4, it will be Flash in 5. His stronger mental fortitude will win him the series. ZerO 2-34-1

And expanding our exhaustively thorough (exhausting in the sense that if you held your laptop over your head for a few hours, you'd get exhausted) we now have ]343[ with a tally of Flash's and ZerO's series play, and how that's going to affect this upcoming final.



A Look at Series Play

By ]343[

Kim Myung Woon (Mensol[ZerO]) vs Lee Young Ho (By.Flash)

June 11, 1700 KST / 0100 PDT / 0400 EST



ZerO <Monte Cristo> Flash

ZerO <La Mancha> Flash

ZerO <Circuit Breaker> Flash

ZerO <Dante's Peak SE> Flash

ZerO <Monte Cristo> Flash



ZerO Zv T

Overall: 49-40 (55.06%)

Last 10: 7-3 (L W W L W L W W W W)

Team Leagues: 31-27 (53.44%)

Individual Leagues: 18-13 (58.06%)

Bo3: 0-2 (1-2 Flash, 1-2 Fantasy)

Bo5: 0-0



ZerO Overall Series Play

Bo3: 4-1 MSL, 8-9 Overall

Bo5: 4-3 MSL, 4-3 Overall



~~~~~~~~~



Flash Tv Z

Overall: 134-55 (70.90%)

Last 10: 8-2 (W L W L W W W W W W)

Team Leagues: 56-15 (78.87%)

Individual Leagues: 78-40 (66.10%)

Bo3: (2-1 Jaedong, 2-1 Juni, 0-2 Luxury, 2-0 Rumble, 1-2 GGPlay, 2-0 Study,

2-0 Hoejja, 1-2 Kwanro, 2-0 JwaJa, 2-0 EffOrt, 2-1 ZerO, 2-0 Jaedong, 1-2 Jaedong)

Bo5: (2-3 GGPlay, 1-3 Jaedong, 0-3 Jaedong, 3-0 July, 3-1 Calm, 3-1 Kwanro,

1-3 Jaedong, 2-3 EffOrt, 3-0 Jaedong, 3-2 Jaedong, 3-1 Jaedong, 3-0 Hydra)



Flash Overall Series Play

Bo3: 6-2 MSL, 26-9 Overall

Bo5: 11-3 MSL, 21-7 Overall



~~~~~~~~~



Head-to-head: ZerO 3-4 Flash

Individual Leagues: ZerO 1-3 Flash

(ZerO 1-2 Flash NATE MSL, 0-1 Korean Air OSL S2)

Team Leagues: ZerO 2-1 Flash



Stats are from TLPD "standard" leagues only: Proleague and Winners' League

plus playoffs, MSL and OSL past preliminaries, WCG Korea, and GOM Classic.

BoX stats do not include OSL below Ro8. 49-40 (55.06%)7-3 (LTeam Leagues: 31-27 (53.44%)Individual Leagues: 18-13 (58.06%)Bo3: 0-2 (1-2 Flash, 1-2 Fantasy)Bo5: 0-0Bo3: 4-1 MSL, 8-9 OverallBo5: 4-3 MSL, 4-3 Overall~~~~~~~~~134-55 (70.90%): 8-2 (Team Leagues: 56-15 (78.87%)Individual Leagues: 78-40 (66.10%)Bo3: (2-1 Jaedong, 2-1 Juni, 0-2 Luxury, 2-0 Rumble, 1-2 GGPlay, 2-0 Study,2-0 Hoejja, 1-2 Kwanro, 2-0 JwaJa, 2-0 EffOrt, 2-1 ZerO, 2-0 Jaedong, 1-2 Jaedong)Bo5: (2-3 GGPlay, 1-3 Jaedong, 0-3 Jaedong, 3-0 July, 3-1 Calm, 3-1 Kwanro,1-3 Jaedong, 2-3 EffOrt, 3-0 Jaedong, 3-2 Jaedong, 3-1 Jaedong, 3-0 Hydra)Bo3: 6-2 MSL, 26-9 OverallBo5: 11-3 MSL, 21-7 Overall~~~~~~~~~: ZerO 3-4 Flash: ZerO 1-3 Flash(ZerO 1-2 Flash NATE MSL, 0-1 Korean Air OSL S2): ZerO 2-1 Flash



Here we have it, folks. The championship match of the ABCMart MSL. One on hand, we have the king, the God, Lee Young Ho, preparing for his 4th MSL final. Flash is weary but confident; the burden is on his shoulders--he must redeem himself for last season's debacle; he has to carry his wildly inconsistent team while trudging along toward his chance to tie the greatest player to touch the game. Flash smells his trophy. By producing a convincing, laughably easy stomping of Hydra in the semifinal, Flash re-emphasized that despite passing his peak, despite the wrist problems, despite the failures last season, he is indeed the favorite to take the title and the Golden Badge. Flash has demonstrated a history of immaculate preparation, impeccable execution, and incredible mental fortitude. Though Flash has shown cracks in his finals play before against Jaedong and Effort, Lee Young Ho is still the undisputed king of best-of-five series.



On the other side, we have the challenger, the jokester, the innovative, the lovable Kim Myung Woon. With newfound determination, Zero tore through his fellow Zerg brethren, even defeating the mighty Tyrant Jaedong--in Zero's worst matchup. Though ZvT is by no means the same as ZvZ, Zero's improvement in ZvZ to the point of defeating Jaedong is a testament to his preparation (yes, he did have build-order advantages, but this shouldn't diminish his feat!), decision making, his mutalisk micro, his mental fortitude, and his determination to practice. And Zero's recent dearth of televised ZvT may be to his advantage: he has plenty of FvZ games to analyze, and he could very well show off the famous Woongjin Zerg Queen play. Even without Queens, Zero won a decisive victory over Flash in their last meeting, stopping Flash's early Goliath push and overrunning the world's best TvZ with management--a feat achieved by few. Still, does Zero have what it takes to win his first ever ZvT Bo5, in his first-ever final no less?



Zero also has the privilege of practicing with the 2nd best TvZ, Light; and his best friend Neo.G_Soulkey has an incredible ZvT in his own right. Flash, however, will have insider information from former Woongjin Zerg Crazy-Hydra, and his friendship with Jaedong and EffOrt should give him sufficient practice for this championship match.



Golden Badge or new champion? Will Zero be able to effective stop mech play by Flash with his Queens? Ladies and gentlemen, let the games begin.



Prediction: Flash 3-1 ZerO

It was tough trying to get my roommate to write that aforementioned piece. It was tougher still trying to get ]343[ to get questions for fan interviews. The thunder was kind of stolen by the Live Report thread, but the more [questions] the merrier, right? Here's Holgerius and Waxangel (filling in for doothegee) on why their respective player will win.



Fan Interviews

By ]343[

1. What are your thoughts on this MSL? Best moment(s) other than your favorite player advancing?

Holgerius: I think this MSL has turned out pretty darn great. Plenty of good games, an adequate amount of top players going deep into the tournament, avoiding a ZvZ-final... me like! The only thing that I'm a little sad about is JD not reaching the final. That scenario, with Flash and JD duking it out over the honor of getting the Golden Badge and tying Nada's record, was so tantalizing. But I also have to point out that if there's one person I'm fine with knocking JD out, it's Zero. I can't emphasise enough how much respect I have for him, and I'm really glad he finally made it to a final.



The entire group of death is the obvious highlight for me. The three best players in the world, and Sea, pitted against each other with only two spots up for grabs was an extremely exciting situation (which spawned a LR-thread longer than most final threads), and I think Hydra was awesome for creating it. It also gave rise to a nice little dramatic storyline that later culminated in Flash's completely humiliating revenge on Hydra (although it isn't truly over until Bisu, who was the one who actually got knocked out, has gotten his revenge). But I guess you can argue that the Group of Death is direcly related to my favourite guy advancing, so I'll provide an alternative answer.



I think for me personally it would be either Reality vs Jaedong game 2, which had that flabbergastingly ingenious build that blew me (and JD) away, or the two games where Soulkey knocked Fanta out of MSL with queen usage. That was splendiferous for several reasons; I hate Fanta, I love SK, and then the motherfucking Queens!



Waxangel: I'm not actually a Zero fan. I was the closest fill-in FlameWheel could find after the actual Zero fan backed out. I'm actually a Jaedong fan, so you're lucky I'm not sabotaging this interview entirely. Also, why did you get Holgerius as the Flash fan? That guy can write novels in reply to the simplest question. You expect me to do that too?



Favorite out of game moment: Hyun's 'drunk' ceremony during MSL group selection.

Favorite in game moment: Flash crushing Hydra and finally bursting that bubble.



2. What do you think is at stake in this MSL final? What's different between this and previous MSLs?

Holgerius: Both players have a lot to fight for; Flash wants to catch up to Nada and cement himself as the GOAT (IMO, ya I'm biased as fuck), and Zero has finally reached his first final (about damn time). It used to piss me off that Luxury, Calm, Hydra, Great and Kwanro (DLAWLWDDIJhowthefuckkdawklKML) all reached Starleague finals while Zero was always held back by his ZvZ, but now he's actually there. I won't be bitter at all if he actually beats Flash, his talent is worthy of a title. ^__^ A little extra spice that makes it even more tense is that we don't know what will happen to Flash's career due to his wrist problems.



Waxangel: I think it's a chance to see if God-Flash can be beaten in long, macro ZvTs. Effort and Jaedong employed their share of tricks to get their victories, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. Winning's the first priority after all. I just think that Zero might be more inclined to take on Flash in macro games as a point of pride. I know it's not likely that Flash will be goaded into playing along when you consider his incredible pragmatism, but I'd really love to believe that he'll take up the challenge and have an all-out slugfest with Zero. God, that would be magnificent.



3. Both players are known for their management. Do you think we'll be seeing any amazing innovation in these games, and on what maps?

Holgerius: It's pretty interesting, because there is a slightly bigger chance of awesome innovation than normally due to the fact that both players are creative as hell, combined with the recent Queen trend that could help spark new ideas. But I doubt we'll see anything mind-blowingly new and interesting, I think it's gonna be relatively straight up.



Waxangel: I don't know about 'amazing' innovation, but Flash is sure to bring some weird off-timed bullshit attacks as is his specialty. As for Zero, I expect he'll try maybe one single-use-only strat, but I don't expect it to be that good. I'd rather Zero stick to refining his strengths and trying to take Flash to the late game each time.



4. How many previous Flash vs Zero games have you seen, and what were your thoughts on those? With past games in mind, what's going to happen this time around?

Holgerius: All of them, of course. Most of them are fantastic games, and everyone who has screamed out that Zero doesn't stand a chance vs Flash should go and rewatch them. Or just take Flash's word for how good Zero is; he absolutely heaped praise over him in his post semi-final interview.



Zero games are impossible to predict though due to his habit of being really inconsistent (one day he plays like he's the best in the world, the next day he gets smashed by a complete scrub). But if he brings his a-game I think he has, as Flash puts it, a 50/50 chance to win based on of pure management skill. I expect the games to be close, but Flash winning the series owing to his vastly superior experience on this stage.



Waxangel: The two that come most to mind was Flash's retarded mech-turtle game on Polaris Rhapsody, and Zero's annihilation of that very same strategy when they played again on Benzene, a map that's not totally imbalanced. I don't think mech vs Zerg defines Flash, since he can play pretty much every style of TvZ very well, but versus Zero in particular, I keep imagining Flash as the symbol of everything that's wrong about mech. While I love that 'you do your thing, I'll do my thing, and let's meet in the middle' act they've done a few times, I doubt it will happen. Like I said, Flash is too pragmatic to think of shit like pride when there's championships to be won, so he'll do his best to pick Zero apart with cute strategies.



5. We've been seeing a decent amount of Flash's vZ lately, but there's barely been any of ZerO's vT. How is this going to affect the series?

Holgerius: In the past I've always thought of this as a relatively big issue when Flash is about to play important games, but I don't have that feeling now. It's a little sad that Flash revealed his brilliant and unusual old school 2 Rax tech play vs Hydra, but he's a creative and nifty fellow with good mindgame abilities, so I don't think it will affect him too much negatively to have played a lot of TvZ lately. On the contrary, he's really warmed up in the match-up and I expect his built-in imba map hack to work perfecly.



Regarding Zero and his lack of ZvTs, not only have we not seen a lot of Zero's vT recently, we've NEVER seen him play a ZvT Bo5. I'm not sure this is a good thing, I doubt the slight edge he gains by hiding concepts is really that important compared to the lack of experience that goes with it. Practise games simply cannot compare to high pressure televised games in a final vs the best player of all time. :D



Waxangel: Flash has the ability to pull however many build orders out of his ass when there's an important, so it's not really a big deal what he's been showing lately. As for Zero, I think Flash and all of us know who he is already. Anything that he's preparing especially for Flash would be hidden anyway, so it's no big deal that he hasn't showed us much ZvT lately.



6. What do you see as your player's major weakness, and how might his opponent exploit it? What two factors do you think will make or break your player?

Holgerius: Hmmm, Flash as a player pretty much doesn't have a weakness, at least not when he's got ample of time to prepare for a match-up. So to be honest I'm having a problem thinking of two factors. I guess one issue could be his wrist, and that could be exploited by Zero by dragging it into long and demanding games with a lot of multitasking. Another slight problem might be his greed that he sometimes exhibits, which can be punished by aggression. But other than that I honestly see no flaw at all in Flash's general gameplay. Zero is gonna have to be better, he's gonna have to outplay Flash if he wants to win, it's as simple as that I think.



Waxangel: Well, Zero's never been in a final before. Nerves will be Zero's worst weakness. It's a bit of a cliche, but some cliches are pretty damn accurate. Other than that a lot of it is up to how many times Flash wants to play straight-up in the series. Flash is an amazing player, but if I had to say he had a slight weakness, I think it's his super-late play. Honestly, I think Zero has a slight edge if they play long macro games. Oh, also Zero's ability to defend against bunker rushes. It's fucking Flash, of course he's going to straight-out cheese in at least one game.



7. Which player has the better practice partners, and why?

Holgerius: Normally I'd say Flash because he has JD (or at least I hope he has), but as we all know JD is slumping pretty hard right now. Zero main practise partner on the other hand is Light, whose TvZ is looking just as good as ever, which means second only to Flash's. On the other hand, I read that Hydra used Light as a practise partner for the semi, and we all know how that turned out when he went up against Flash... But I'd kinda give the advantage here to Zero based on their principal sparring partner, although it's quite hard to tell when you don't really have much information about what is actually going on over there. For instance, have no idea if Flash is practising with Effort and how good he is at this very moment, or how much insider information Crazy-Hydra can bring to the table.



Waxangel: One time several months ago, Light had the best late-game TvZ in the world, even better than Flash. Ever since, he's kinda sucked. Now, repeat that sentence, replace Light with "Action," flip "TvZ," and replace "Flash" with "Jaedong." Dunno, the present quality of their practice partners is a toss up.



F1. Flash's wrists are becoming a chronic problem. Do you think this will be his last chance at tying Nada? How will his wrist affect his play?

Holgerius: No, I don't think so. At least I hope to god, despite being a hardcore atheist, that it isn't. Or actually, I do hope it's his last chance at tying Nada because he will succeed now in his first attempt so he never has to try it again. But seriously, if it ended up breaking his career it would be such a tragic loss of potential. I don't even want to think about it.



We might see a Flash that focuses a little more on mindgames and build orders rather than completely straight up management, which obviously takes a lot more of a toll on his poor, precious wrists. I'm personally a huge fan of when Flash brings out this type of play; he had a little period earlier this year when he did it in plenty of games, and it's hilarious how hard he can crush people early on when he wants to. Kid is so good at cheese, and not just the pure execution of it, but also knowing when to do it. :D So ya, we could end up with a Flash who's going back to his roots, so to speak.



If everything had been fine with him I would've been extremely disappointed if we ended up with several short games in this specific match-up (vs Zero). I really hope his wrist can hold together to let him prepare for epic macro games (ideally 5 of them :D) that includes Queens and Battlecruisers and whatnot. But with the situation as it is, I'm fine with him playing however he feels that he's capable of. Based on his interviews he sounds like he's working harder than ever though, despite his problems. We'll see what he brings out.



Z1. This is Zero's first finals and his first ZvT Bo5. How will he overcome this deficit in experience?

Waxangel: Hyperbolic Time Chamber.



F2. How do you think Flash will deal with the threat of Queens from Zero? Will he try lategame mechanic regardless, or will Flash stick to bio?

Holgerius: He will make 107 (might be misremembering the exact number) turrets. :D



I'm not really gonna try to go into any theorycraft about how Flash will deal with it, but I'm pretty confident he's found a way to negate queens pretty effectively. He's got an ex-Woongjin Zerg to help him, so I'm sure he's practised a lot against it by now. I don't think he's gonna whip out some super innovative strategy, but rather some tactical tweaks in his play.



I think it's pretty much guaranteed that Flash will go for some kind of mech switch if it goes to a late game large scale macromanagement war. All maps are pretty well suited for it, and SK Terran is so outdated and weak compared to it. You're stupid if you insist on staying with bio against a 4+ gas Zerg.



Z2. Do you think we'll see Zero pull off Queens successfully on the Finals stage? What implications would that have for future mainstream anti-Mech play?

Waxangel: As much as I desire it, and as much as I'd love to think that Flash has some sense of pride that will make him want to go mech vs Queens, the reality is that Flash is (once again) a pragmatic motherfucker. I think he knows that Zero's most desired type of game would be a long Z v Mech, and knowing that, why should he try to play that kind of game? Still, Zero will use queens and rape Flash if he dares to try.



8. Lastly... Can you draw ZerO?

Holgerius:



No, I can't.



Waxangel:



And lastly, since I like perpetuating the elitism of staff, I scrounged around MiB for staff predictions. Surprisingly, I got more responses than I expected. Let's see how the responses tally up and who's going to be gloating by the end of the weekend. Also, this took forever to put together like this, but I think it looks nice!



Staff Predictions

Flash (26)





ZerO (12)





Break down

(11) Flash 3-0

Antoine, Carnivorous Sheep, ]343[, tree.hugger, Imperator, boesthius, LosingID8, Corinthos, Pholon, konadora, Plexa

+ Show Spoiler [Additional Comments] + On June 03 2011 07:08 ]343[ wrote:

flash 3-0 or 3-2 (dante's peak zomg)

On June 03 2011 20:55 boesthius wrote:

Flash 3-0



it doesn't matter, it's flash.

(10) Flash 3-1

flamewheel, CaucasianAsian, Roffles, IntoTheWow, infinitestory, disciple, Smix, Last Romantic, Mikilatov, heyoka

+ Show Spoiler [Additional Comments] + On June 03 2011 01:13 CaucasianAsian wrote:

I might just be an average fanboy of flash, but I have to go with him. He seems to be on top of his game again. I'll say he sweeps it 3-1.

On June 03 2011 03:47 Roffles wrote:

3-1 Flash. I don't care about his injury. He just dismantled Hydra convincingly.

On June 03 2011 05:57 infinitestory wrote:

Flash 3-1. LWWW

On June 03 2011 18:34 disciple wrote:

dat wrist



Flash 3-1

On June 06 2011 20:54 heyoka wrote:

Flash 3-1. ZerO is good but c'mon, hes Flash and he still isn't showing a chink in the armor.



Maybe if we're really lucky ZerO will 3-0 with a new build dubbed The ZerO Build and Flash will never play the same again.

(2) Flash 3-2

HawaiianPig, Waxangel



(3) Flash Unspecified

CTStalker, GTR, H

+ Show Spoiler [Additional Comments] + On June 03 2011 00:27 CTStalker wrote:

Click here!



flash flash

On June 03 2011 11:23 H wrote:

Flash. It'll be so easy for him they'll play the fourth and fifth game just to give ZerO a chance at taking a game but he still won't.

(1) ZerO Unspecified

Empyrean

+ Show Spoiler [Additional Comments] + On June 03 2011 12:17 Empyrean wrote:

I'm just gonna support Aesop and Xxio on this one because I like them (mainly Aesop. Haven't met Xxio yet rofl) I'm just gonna support Aesop and Xxio on this one because I like them(mainly Aesop. Haven't met Xxio yet rofl)

(5) ZerO 3-2

Aesop, Xxio, Milkis, mikeymoo, swanized

+ Show Spoiler [Additional Comments] + On June 03 2011 01:27 Aesop wrote:

I'll be the minority: Zero 3-2.

On June 03 2011 06:11 Xxio wrote:

Zero 3-2.

Queens.

On June 07 2011 05:20 mikeymoo wrote:

3-1 Flash seems to be the safe bet.

Therefore, 3-2 Zero. On June 09 2011 11:05 swanized wrote:

My prediction is Zero 3-2



queens crush Flash twice on Dante's peak

(6) ZerO 3-1

nbaker, Ares[Effort], alffla, Hydro, l10f, mustaju

+ Show Spoiler [Additional Comments] + On June 03 2011 02:41 Ares[Effort] wrote:

ZerO 3-1 Flash

Nice icon flamewheel

On June 03 2011 06:18 alffla wrote:

zero 3-1.



somehow,.

On June 10 2011 05:04 mustaju wrote:

Thinking Zero has this 3-1, the maps are very good and he is more clutch than Hydra ever was.

(0) ZerO 3-0



This MSL comes closer to the end, and the MSL team of flamewheel, ]343[, and nbaker pulls out the big guns. And hunts down some volunteers as well. Special thanks to konadora, swanized, and l10f for their writing, and to interviewees Waxangel and Holgerius for taking the time to answer questions. As usual, disciple is amazing with graphics, and thanks to all staff who gave their predictions.



What more are you waiting for? HYPE HYPE HYPE. Writer damn, i was two days from retirement I can't believe it. With the exception of the Hydra-Flash battle reports, the entirety of this article is. And here I sit, bewildered--as usual, I don't know what to write for this little introduction.And then I went back and read this . And then afterward, for the umpteenth time, this . As a sidenote, DoctorHelvetica, you write damn good articles.What, you may ask, does this second article have to do with this final? It's all about the management. And no Zerg currently embodies the playstyle of the Maestro better than ZerO. Yes, EffOrt [and Hydra] are sAviOr's heirs... in name. But in terms of playstyle, look no further than ZerO. Strong defense. Fantastic anti-mech play.And on the other side, we have Flash. Macro, micro, game sense--Flash is the last bonjwa.At this point, I've bantered just enough--the perfect amount to not leave any blank lines. Now then, let us take a look at the excellent recap of the semifinal match between Hydra and Flash, courtesy of nbaker and konadora. Afterward, it's time to get down to the real part of this show.As hyped up as that semifinal was, it was a disappointment. Game 2 was interesting, but the others... were not. Hydra couldn't deliver, and that's a good thing in this case. After all, TvZ is more interesting than ZvZ. So then, where were we? Oh yes. To the pregame hype!So when I was in New York, I taught l10f some Tetris. What he didn't know was that I put a tracer in his food. Still, he's a slippery one--it took me quite a while to catch him, tie him down, slap him with a haddock, and finally convince him to write something for the MSL. As a balancing counterpart, nbaker has also consented to take a look at the map pool to make some in-depth predictions.And expanding our exhaustively thorough (exhausting in the sense that if you held your laptop over your head for a few hours, you'd get exhausted) we now have ]343[ with a tally of Flash's and ZerO's series play, and how that's going to affect this upcoming final.It was tough trying to get my roommate to write that aforementioned piece. It was tougher still trying to get ]343[ to get questions for fan interviews. The thunder was kind of stolen by the Live Report thread, but the more [questions] the merrier, right? Here's Holgerius and Waxangel (filling in for doothegee) on why their respective player will win.And lastly, since I like perpetuating the elitism of staff, I scrounged around MiB for staff predictions. Surprisingly, I got more responses than I expected. Let's see how the responses tally up and who's going to be gloating by the end of the weekend. Also, this took forever to put together like this, but I think it looks nice!