StarCraft: Brood War: Famous names predict NATE MSL final

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NEWS

By Duncan 'Thorin' Shields

Jan 22, 2010 13:10

From players to commentators to bonjwas everyone has laid out their thoughts on the potentially epic Jaedong vs. Flash NATE MSL final which will play out tomorrow.

Anyone who is a fan of competitive StarCraft is either eagerly awaiting, or should be, the NATE MSL between Jae Dong 'Jaedong' Lee and Young Ho 'Flash' Lee. The series will take place on tomorrow and has so many intriguing factors attached to it that it seems to have everyone's antennas up and thinking about how it might play out. A whole host of famous names have given their predictions on how they think this potentially epic series will go down.

2009 NATE MSL Grand Final

Date: January 23rd

Event Time: 17:00 KST / 09:00 CET / 03:00 EST / 00:00 PST

Location: Seoul Yeouido MBC D Public Hall - Virtual Studio

(T)Flash vs (Z)Jaedong

Set 1: Match Point
Set 2: Ultimatum
Set 3: Odd-Eye
Set 4: Fighting Spirit
Set 5: Match Point

* (Z)Jaedong thumbed down Odd-Eye
* (T)Flash thumbed down Fighting Spirit

Firstly a whole telephone directory of players have given their predictions, along with commentators. Names like NC..Yellow, Kwanro, Calm and Effort all explain their perspective on this clash of the titans.

"NC..Yellow: I’ve watched Flash for a long time now, and I know how good he is and how hard he works. I think he will win 3-1. Jaedong and Flash are both awesome players, at #1 and #2 in the rankings, but I think Flash has some great momentum right now. Winning the OSL has taken his momentum to a new level, and I don’t think he can lose with that kind of momentum going.

Kwanro: I predict that Flash will win. I’ve practiced ZvT on the MBCGame maps from the round of 16, and had a lot of matches versus Terran players, and I’m telling you, it’s a damn miracle I didn’t break my keyboard during practice (laughs). It’s just that hard to play ZvT on those maps. Flash has all the momentum going right now, so Jaedong is going to have to put in an incredible effort to overcome Flash. I think Flash will win 3-1, and if Jaedong wins, he’ll barely pull it out at 3-2.

Effort: Flash will win. If you consider his OSL win not long ago, and the explosive gameplay he’s showing us these days, he has incredible momentum going. Of course, Jaedong is a strong player, but you can’t ignore Flash’s momentum. But then again, you never know for sure with these things. I’m going to cautiously predict a 3-2 win for Flash."

After came the predictions of the mighty bonjwas (the greatest and most dominant players of all time) as BoxeR, NaDa, iloveoov and sAviOr all sent forth word from their home on StarCraft's Mount Olympus.

Here are two of the most interesting (or in iloveoov's case: amusing)

"Boxer - Flash wins MSL, but hopes Jaedong

Right now, there is no other player in the world except Jaedong who can block Flash's path. This IS the final destination for both players. However, Flash did beat Jaedong in the OSL.

If Jaedong cannot find a weakness to Flash's 1 Barrack Double Command play, Flash will steam-roll over Jaedong with complete ease. But this isn't the only problem Jaedong has to overcome. Right now, Flash can just about throw ANYTHING at Jaedong. Flash has all the cards, it is Jaedong's huge burden to predict every single one.

In conclusion, this is the battle of wits. Whoever pulls the better card and whoever out-thinks the other will be the winner of this final. I believe Flash will win, however I hope Jaedong will win.

Nothing should be unstoppable when you see it coming......
(T/N: Oh Boxer. Oh you.)
(By the way if you haven't gotten this part yet, Boxer was referencing his 3x Bunker Rush)

iloveoov - Flash will win 3:1

Flash will win. Why? Because he is strong (laughs). In my honest opinion, Flash will prepare all 5 games for a 1 barrack double command play. Everything will boil down to this, "How can Jaedong penetrate Flash's build?"

Flash will probably prepare for this final like he would prepare for any other zerg final, but Jaedong will have to get sneaky. Hidden expansions, all ins, greedy builds and cheeses. But if I have to say, Flash will win 3:1

Haha, but seriously I wish both players do terrible. After this final ends, both players must slump for an eternity. Bisu, Fantasy and T1 has to dominate too you know!"

Then finally came the predictions of the two great Protoss players of the modern era, and the other two members of Taek-Bang-Lee-Ssang, Bisu and stork. Bisu interestingly predicts in favour of Jaedong while stork delivers a typically insightful answer:

"Stork - Flash wins MSL

Flash will win because he is just so unstoppable right now. The force started at OSL RO8 and I believe it will continue to the MSL finals.

Bisu said that it will be difficult for Flash to keep up, but I've known Flash for a while and Flash is a player who does ALOT of thinking. Also KT took Flash off the proleague entry list last time so I don't think Flash had trouble preparing for this finals at all. Not to mention I heard rumors that whenever Jaedong and Flash practice, Flash ends up winning most of the games now. And not to mention, the only time Jaedong got a Silver medal was against a Terran player. Everything points towards Flash in my opinion so I think he will win.

I helped Flash with his OSL final and let me tell you something; this isn't the same Flash I knew long ago. There was something different about Flash this time... Long time ago when Jaedong beat me to win his first OSL, I remember Jaedong saying "I practiced so hard my fingers almost broke. I felt it from Jaedong that time and this time I was getting the same vibe from Flash. I also heard that Flash's keyboard hand (left hand) got blisters and kept bleeding during practice because he stretched it too far (this is actually true, it was a huge issue in Korea for a while >.> )"

This final promises to be epic on so many levels:
* Flash and Jaedong are by all accounts the two best players in the world right now.
* Flash just came off an OSL victory less than a week ago and only one other player has ever won both Starleagues consecutively: the godlike NaDa (who interestingly predicted against Flash)
* Flash knocked Jaedong out of the OSL in the RO8 and Jaedong is considered the only player who was capable of getting in Flash's way for these two Starleagues.
* Jaedong has a chance to add a second MSL title to his title haul which already includes a golden mouse (for three OSL titles) which while it may not yet put him at bonjwa status, depending on your criteria, would likely put him top 3 all time.
* Flash can add a third Starleague title (having won two OSL titles) and put himself as either the second best or tied second best player of this era, along with Bisu who has three MSLs.
* Should Flash win this title, over the best player in the world not called Flash, then along with his incredible form recently this could mark the beginning of the emergance of the next (and possibly last for StarCraft 1) bonjwa.
* A victory for Jaedong over a Flash who is in incredible form would greatly add to his legend and silence any of his critics right now.
* Both players are known for being among the hardest practicing players in StarCraft players, with accompanying stories about worn out hands from hitting the keyboard over and over.

Poor organizational decisions by MBCGame aside this one promises to be everything a StarCraft fan could wish for.

Sources: FOMOS.kr via teamliquid (1, 2 and 3)