“despite producing games that are shorter than Britney Spears’ first marriage, PvP can be thrilling in its own way.”
HuK's stalkers were as important as Will Smith's dog in Independence Day.
“HuK was finally in Code S and I could finally sleep. Things were right in the world.”
Typically, a memorable StarCraft II match consists of massive epic battles. Usually there are simultaneous attacks going on all around the map that display mind-blowing multi-tasking skills, ultra fast strategic decision making, and creative tactics. By the end of the game, nearly all the available bases are claimed, several of which are completely mined out and the casters are losing their voice from all the yelling and excitement.
Then there are Protoss vs Protoss mirror matches.
When you hear Tasteless explain, two minutes into the game, that HuK “is probably going to cut probes soon, he’ll want to stop around 19 or 20,” you know you’re not going to be in for a 40 minute brawl with multiple motherships. 19 or 20 probes for the entire game? That’s how many kills a single cloaked banshee gets on a off day.
However, despite producing games that are shorter than Britney Spears’ first marriage, PvP can be thrilling in its own way... as I’m sure Britney’s first marriage was. The standard 4gate vs 4gate is so volatile that losing a single zealot, stalker, or probe early can cost you the game. There’s a suspenseful excitement with every single small skirmish because rather than just putting a player slightly ahead or behind, the outcome could determine their fate for the entire tournament. In the case of HuK’s up/down matches, these seemingly small sentry-stalker-zealot fights decided who went to Code S and who had to battle it out in Code A.
HuK faced off against oGsInCa and choyafOu. Both very good Protoss users, but all HuK had to do was beat either one of them in a best of three to get into Code S. The average game length was probably only ten minutes, but they were some of the most captivating ten minute games in the GSL. Like I said before, the early micro battles are so critical that we become invested in the fate of every single unit.
In other match-ups, we’re used to seeing an entire platoon of marines get obliterated by a couple burrowed banelings, or three blue-flame hellions vaporize a fully saturated expansions of drones, and we hardly even bat an eye. In PvP, we see one zealot get picked off and Artosis is yelling “this could be it!” It’s sort of like watching Independence Day for me: When the aliens first attack, thousands of people are being killed left and right by exploding cars and flying rubble. But then there’s the dog, jumping from car to car, trying desperately to make it to safety with Will Smith’s baby-momma and avoid being engulfed by a giant fireball. I don’t really care about any of the people that are being annihilated. All I care about is that the freaking dog survives. During HuK’s matches, I was invested in the life of every single one of his units the same way I was invested in the life of Will Smith’s dog.
Going into the first game against InCa, I had pretty high hopes. HuK hasn’t had a ton of impressive tournament results recently because he’s been fully invested in the GSL, but from what people close to him have said, he’s arguably the best foreign Protoss in the world right now.
Then he lost to InCa 2-0 and I started to get a little concerned. Were his chances at Code S going to be thwarted by a bunch annoying one base gateway unit builds?
The first game against choya was looking scary for a while. At one point Artosis even said “If HuK engages, he should just lose, he simply has less units.” Then, next thing you know, HuK’s throwing down a dark shrine, warping in dark templar and insta-gibbing all of choya’s workers. Artosis: “Well it looks like HuK is just going to get a win here... muhahaha.” He seriously had a menacing laugh like that, it was awesome.
Game two brought us to Scrap Station, leading to an inevitable 4gate vs 4gate that lasted an intense eight and a half minutes. At the eight minute mark, HuK had the lead with a handful more stalkers than choya. It looked like he was going to be heading to Code S next season. But then somehow, choya was suddenly in his base destroying his stalkers and forcing the GG.
After the game, I realized a couple things: 1) Never get up to go to the bathroom during a PvP on Scrap Station - even if you only need to go number one - by the time you get back the game will be over and you’ll need to watch the VOD to figure out what the hell happened. 2) I was genuinely rooting for HuK to the point that I was going to be really disappointed if he had to fight his way through Code A again. His cute little celebrations after games had grown on me, he needed to be in Code S next season. He deserved it.
The final game between HuK and choya was on Xel’Naga Caverns and proved to be yet another 4gate mirror match. Things got interesting immediately when the two players’ forces managed to miss each other entirely and end up on complete opposite ends of the map, near the opposing player’s base. After half a dozen exchanges of “this is so weird” between Tasteless and Artosis, things quickly climaxed with HuK charging up choya’s ramp, defeating the remaining stalkers, and securing his spot in the most competitive SC2 league in the world.
Things were no less exciting in my apartment where I was jumping out of my computer chair, scaring the crap out of my cat, and temporarily forgetting that I had to be at work in a couple hours.
HuK was finally in Code S and I could finally sleep. Things were right in the world.
Woody "soso" Favinger is the author of The soso column, published every Wednesday on GosuGamers.net. You can contact him via email at [email protected] or follow him on twitter at twitter.com/wfavinger
