The top 5 games of Assembly Summer 2013

Disable SCAYT?

Assembly Summer 2013 is done. Taeja has successfully defended his throne and is now $10,000 richer but a lot more than that happened at Helsinki, Finland. With thirty two players entangled in a myriad of best of five series there was certainly a lot of StarCraft 2 to watch last weekend.

Before the memories of the tournament grow cold, we take a trip back to the five most exciting matches and present them to you in video and replay form. From Happy's multitasking, to San's storm flanks to Taeja's and Hyun's heartstopping face-off, the list certainly has a lot to offer.

Why was it good: In times when TvTs often end before the tenth minute on the back of some banshee harassment or early game timing attacks, Happy and Pro7ect do it the familiar, old-fashioned way.

Say what you want, but Happy has definitely not been getting the attention he deserves. Clouded in the shadow of more hyped European Terrans like Lucifron, Dayshi and even the currently underperforming Thorzain, Happy has been desperately trying to make his name known. Quite the difficult task, especially considering how the hard results have been lacking.

In spite of all, Happy is still an amazing player and at Assembly Summer he showcased why that is exactly. In a Ro16 game against Pro7ect, the Russian takes the meching path and abuses it to the maximum, attacking at sevel place simultaneously while successfully deflecting Pro7ect's attempts at counter attacking. Prepare for SCV genocide and the shattering of the phrase "mech immobility"

Why was it good: In a game that aided towards MC's elimination in the Ro32, Happy ups his multitasking even further.

If #5 in the list was richer on strategical depth and artful handing of armies, this particular game is all about dynamics. Put against MC in the winners match of Group B, Happy goes insane with his medivac drops and forces the Boss Toss to run around like a headless chicken, trying to defend all his nexi from getting sniped. Even if this game teaches you nothing in terms of strategy or makes you go mad about TvP imbalance, it's still pure entertainment that lures you into simply enjoying it.

For those who intend to mimic Happy's playstyle here: Good luck!

Why was it good: Goswser does that thing again with the ZvT and Newkirk Precinct and matches that go on forever.

By now I am absolutely convinced that Goswser has this fetish towards excruciatingly long ZvTs. Nimble minds will remember his game against Bomber at MLG Winter Championship when the Korean nuked himself allowing Goswser to make a comeback... about an our later.

Here, the situation is similar. We have Goswser fighting for a high tournament finish. We have a big Terran name (in this case Lucifron) trying to stop him. We have Newkirk Precinct split in the middle, leading to a massive stalemate between the two. And we have Goswser trying to find ways to spend a bank of about 23,000 minerals before finally forcing a GG out of Lucifron at the 75th minute.. 

Before you say there's no enjoyment to that whatsoever, I'd suggest that you still take a look at the mid game of this match. I promise you, there's way more action than watching paint dry.

Why was it good: San does the impossible and takes a game off of Taeja in what is inarguably the latter's strongest match-up.

Fast forward one day and we're at the Assembly Summer grand final. Taeja is looking forward to defending his throne and two maps into the series he's doing splendidly. San, who thus far has been obliterating in the playoffs, is struggling against Liquid's ace's PvT. The prospects of making a comeback while one game away from elimination are close to zero.

Yet, San's persistence and tactical command of his forces pay off, big time. Hugging his third base, the Protoss awaits Taeja's marine/marauder push to arrive so that he can storm-flank it with a couple of high templars and vaporize the Terran strike force. From there, through more storms, zealot harassment, perfect engaging and even more storms, San crawls his way into victory, delaying Taeja's ultimate triumph just a little bit longer.

Why was it good: Two of the hottest players in the world engage in a hectic series to decide who will advance to the playoffs as top seed. How can it possibly be not good?

It is a notion shared by many that TvZ is among the best match-ups in StarCraft 2. The dynamic of the engagements combined with units dying en masse to picturesque splash damage as well as the relatively long duration of the match-up are certainly strong advocates of the above statement.

So what do you get when you put players like Taeja and HyuN in this environment? Usually, you'd get, no more, nor less, a game that you'd like to re-watch at least a lot more and this one is no exception. The standard composition face-off between muta/ling and bio/mine is take to its extremes and we see HyuN haunting several bases at once and Taeja fighting back through widow explosions and gunfire, both making you wish there were even more levels of zoom out incorporated into the replay UI so you can properly enjoy the spectacle.

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