Leenock vs Jjakji: Thoughts on the Best GSL Finals
December 10, 2011
I don’t think I need to dwell on the whole “GSL finals are lackluster” thing. It’s a tragic fact of eSports life, a mantra spoken by casters and fans alike since the second open season. One player will be strong, confident, while the other is nervous and underprepared. We can call it MVP vs MKP syndrome. So when I tuned in to GOMtv last week to catch Leenock vs Jjakji, my expectations were understandably minimal.
Leenock was a solid favorite, returning from the West with a shiny new MLG Championship trophy. Jjakji was the underdog. The guy whose only exploit was all-killing FXO in the GSTL back in July. The expected narrative had written itself. Leenock would crush him in unceremonious fashion, heft his trophy, hug his mom, and be the richest self-made 16 year old on that half of the globe.
Was I ever in for a surprise.
The games were fascinating, mostly because the players were fascinating. Instead of competing mechanically, they opted to play a more direct mental game. Games were not decided by one dimensional questions like who maxed out faster, who expanding when, or even who chose the right build. Instead it was a matter of understanding the actions that would nullify or exploit the specific decisions of the opponent. Jjakji and Leenock could’ve been competing in checkers, or hide and seek, or well, anything. The result still would’ve been a fascinating look at two equally creative psyches.
The following is a summation of my thoughts on the series, detailing what made this such a special match up and why things turned out the way they did.
Tal’Darim Altar
This, to me, was the game of the series. You’ll have to bear with me, I’m about to do some prolonged gushing.
Day9 mentioned something interesting on the last episode of State of the Game. He talked about self-expression through Starcraft, the ability for players to distinguish themselves through play style. The viewing community at large could benefit from this brand of eSports auteurism. No one wants to see the same marine tank push over and over again. They want players who push boundaries, who have character. They want July to “flip the switch,” or NesTea to crawler push a forge FE because he has “a thousand IQ!”
Tal’Darim Altar has the most necessary factor for allowing players to define themselves: size. It’s a big enough map that you can play it in any number of ways. Both Jjakji and Leenock took advantage of that fact.
Jjakji, for instance, rapidly took a hidden third. Not just any hidden third, a behind the minerals hidden third. This technique preys specifically on high level thinking. A good player will not scout all the way to the mineral line, instead opting to stop with the command center’s typical placement barely on the edge of their visual range. This maximizes the efficiency of the scouting player’s unit movements, but leaves a considerable blind spot. One which Leenock fell victim to. He ultimately did not discover until it was nearly mined out. The position of the CC obviously reduces mining efficiency, but the overall utility of the hidden base made it extremely worthwhile.
Thus begs the question, how on earth did Leenock make this into a close game despite his economic disadvantage? The answer lies in the unique way he established a cost effective army: the double spire combined with burrowed banelings. On a large map, mobility is often more important that outright power. Knowing this, Leenock correctly determined that rapidly upgrading his Mutalisks would be extremely advantageous. Using his more-than-typically powerful Muta ball, he unleashed a death by a thousand needles strategy that used small counters to deflect larger aggression.
Likewise, large maps mean lots of space to hide deadly burrowed baneling traps. Everywhere Leenock went he left a baneling or three in the ground, a tactic he utilized throughout the series and deserves to be classified as a distinctly Leenock maneuver. Even during battles, he’d burrow a tiny contingent of banelings in opportune locations for later use. Jjakji was very careful about scanning, but nobody is perfect. A few solid hits kept his marine count low and his confidence diminished. This allowed Leenock to even the playing field despite his relative lack of resources.
So why did Jjakji eventually win? While Leenock made some small tactical blunders (the accidental baneling explosion comes to mind), the larger answer lies in Leenock’s late game philosophy.
Given double spire upgrades, conventional wisdom suggests that Brood Lords, along with a complimentary ground army including some Infestors, were a logical late game decision. It was this conventional wisdom that bit Leenock in this ass.
For a long time, this death ball created what felt like an insurmountable situation for Terran opponents. More recently, Terran pros have been utilizing the raw power of late game Ghosts to absolutely decimate Zerg’s larger, more expensive T3 units. A pack of 12 snipers can rip a Brood Lord or Ultra-based army to shreds, and save up enough energy to do it all over again if the Zerg doesn’t opt for a tech switch.
Brood Lords are also slow, really REALLY slow. By this point Leenock’s bases are copious and spread apart. In order to defend them from the multi-pronged devastation of 3/3 marine drops, he needs speed. His emphasis on Brood Lords also caused him to forgo, either by intention or omission, the all important adrenal glads upgrade until the game was nearly over. By sacrificing his mobility advantage, he gave Jjakji free reign to harass, and eventually destroy his outer expansions.
Jjaki’s economic situation wasn’t much more favorable, as Leenock’s leftover mid game Muta pack had effectively contained him to a single mining base. With the two on even footing, the cost effective manner in which Ghosts handle Brood Lords and Infestors in direct combat became the keystone that led Jjakji to victory. The final clash involving a massive aerial Zerg army dive bombing into a fearsome Terran composition of Marines, Ghosts, Vikings, and Thors was epic spectacle, but the Terran coming out on top was a forgone conclusion once the first snipes were fired. Leenock should’ve stuck with agility instead of opting for strength.
Crossfire
This was a more straightforward game. At face value, one could simply state that Jjakji won with a devastating early timing push. That assessment doesn’t do justice to the one major factor that led to the success of that timing: Jjakji’s ability to control Leenock’s behavior.
This was achieved through the judicious way in which Jjakji denied scouting. It started with the very intentional deployment of two marines to hunt down and destroy Leenock’s scouting Overlord, an action that Jjakji performed throughout the series with nearly precognitive efficiency. While he didn’t manage to kill the OL this game, he did force Leenock to place it into a completely innocuous location. He then used reactor hellions to deny map vision and influence early production behavior. Leenock saw some hellions, which is about the most standard thing you can expect to see in a TvZ. Jjakji then utilized Crossfire’s narrow corridors and watchtowers to eliminate any further drone or ling scouting.
Jjakji’s success was causing Leenock to be moderately conservative when he needed to be extremely conservative. While Leenock had planted two crawlers and had the beginnings of a wall, he began building literally seven drones as Jjakji moved out with a fearsome 1-base Terran force. At that point it’s a forgone conclusion. A Zerg simply does not have the larva to produce the necessary defensive units to stop a force that big on a map that small.
Daybreak
Daybreak was Leenock’s first opportunity to play a clean game, by which I mean Jjakji didn’t opt for an all in or any hidden base shenanigans. It was also exemplary of why I feel that Leenock actually has better mechanics than Jjakji. His macro, micro, and multitasking capabilities were just ever so slightly superior throughout the match.
For example, Jjakji’s early tactics were intentionally agile and conspicuously devoid of Siege Tanks. He uses a force of Marines, Medivacs, and Hellions to attack Leenock’s third while simultaneously dropping his main. This is a difficult thing for a Zerg to handle, and standard practice involves shutting it down through establishing a Muta presence. Leenock, however, is able to handily deflect Jjakji’s multiple assaults while delaying his spire, opting instead to focus on fast upgrades. This takes an extremely sound player who understands the value of flanking. Leenock manages to out-maneuver Jjakji and comes out of the situation with a tremendous economic advantage.
Leenock uses this advantage to rapidly tech, opting to head straight for the Greater Spire while maintaining his strong lead with highly upgraded Speedling/Baneling swarm and a small contingent of Infestors. With this force, he prioritizes keeping Jjakji’s already low Tank count down, even if it means some sacrifices. This essential action prevents Jjakji from establishing any safe havens on the map, allowing Leenock to expertly force him into a series of unfavorable trades. If you’re a Zerg, and you’re ahead in tech and econ, you can afford to trade your expendable fourth base for a Terran’s much more essential third base. Leenock keeps Jjakji from establishing an effective economy by rolling over any efforts to establish bases with a massive swarm, then cleaning up subsequent counterattacks.
When the first wave of Brood Lords pops, Jjakji is able to take them out. However, it quickly becomes clear that Leenock, with 3x the income, has forced him into an unwinnable situation. The beautiful baneling landmines are just garnish for what was a forgone conclusion.
Bel’Shir Beach
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Zerg beat a Terran in a base race scenario during a pro match. It’s just not supposed to happen. They can lift their buildings for goodness sake!
Jjakji opts for a 2-port Banshee build. He deviates from the norm, however, by throwing down an early Command Center at 21 supply and producing an initial batch of Hellions. This decision has mixed results. On the one hand, it delays the banshee aggression considerably. On the other hand, it simultaneously produces complacency in the opponent while making transitions more stable. Leenock, either by intention or pure luck, happens to go for an early Spire. This nullifies the banshee aggression completely, prompting Tastetosis to incorrectly assert that Jjakji is in massive trouble. To the contrary, his early economic maneuvers ended up mitigating his disadvantage considerably. He has a decent economy, and his infrastructure isn’t game-endingly horrible.
Of course, his situation is still disadvantageous. He’s just able to make a game of it.
One such disadvantage involves the over-abundance of Medivacs he produces. Jjakji is never quite able to replace his air production with ground army infrastructure. This hurts him tremendously in many of the later game battles. He ends up with too many supporting units and way too little DPS.
Leenock is also able to take advantage of Jjakji’s temporary weakness to expand rapidly. This grants him the economic advantage necessary to sink into his more comfortable play style from the Daybreak game.
Leenock is ultimately able to win the game through a series of devestatingly potent counter attacks, most of which destroy orbital commands. This is essential, because he follows up every counterattack with a new spread of his trademark baneling land mines.
When the final base trading begins, Jjakji is not able to scan. He does manage to squeeze out a Raven before his main crumbles, but Leenock is able to take it out in a subsequent hit and run battle. The result is Jjakji slowly moving around the map using blind siege tanks shells to clear out any traps. Any SC player knows this isn’t an ideal situation. This slow pacing allows Leenock to re-establish a base and produce more units.
Leenock slowly picks away at the edges of Jjakji’s army before finally moving in and crushing it. Perhaps he’s a bit over-cautious in doing so, but it does guarantee him the win.
Dual Site & Calm Before the Storm
At this point, Leenock begins to crumble. On Dual Site, he botches his micro, failing to defend an early push through sloppy army control. On Calm Before the Storm, he botches his macro. He’s floating around 1,700 minerals for the last third of the game or so.
Maybe it’s because he’s young, maybe it’s because he’s tired, or maybe it’s because he’s satisfied with the insane amount of money he’s already made in just two weeks time.Whatever the case, Jjakji earned his victory through an impressive string of strategic decisions.
The real victor, though? Gotta be the GSL and GOMtv. They finally put on a final that justifies calling themselves the biggest, best tournament in all of Starcraft 2. It’s also a victory for the game, as it’s one of the first high profile examples of a series that was truly decided by strategy and not mechanical prowess. Jjakji didn’t out-mass or out-maneuver Leenock, he out-thought Leenock.
This sort of creative conflict signifies a massive step in pro-level SC2. Leenock vs Jjakji should, if nothing else, be remembered as a milestone.
All images in this article belong to GOMtv and the GSL.
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