[sheepy]

A very well written and thought out article. My sentiments exactly.

Seems to me that many in community currently have the perception that playing out of the ordinary is "cheesing" . For some reason, people view SC2 as a macro and reflex game, rather than a "strategy game". What i mean by this is that people expect others to follow the mainstream and play by what is widely considered to be "fair" or "honorable". To these people, this means playing straight up with brute force and macro skills , which are without a doubt fun to spectate. It has gotten to a point where people view strategies that have a gamble element to them as cheese, because a good player supposedly has the mindset that "if the game drags out, my superior skill and macro will prevail because i AM the better player"

To me, this is rubbish. What we end up with is a community that expects everyone to play with invisible constraints, and when someone steps beyond those boundaries , its cheese. Winning with strategy and timing are viable ways of playing, and the cries that such players won't get far have no basis but frustration. Just take a look at the GSL, with nex genius getting gged by 2 proxy barracks rushes, or even the timing mmm push by several terrans. Plenty of terran players or even protoss players base their game around good timings that are highly reliant on strong scouting. SC2 is not just about who clicks faster and who has better hand eye coordination. Its about strong strategic decisions and the ability to evaluate on the fly what the better decision should be. Oxygen has shown us during the invitationals how effective this approach can be, and as someone who trained with him before the event, i can say that his play style is more varied and unpredictable than any Terran i know.

The game is still new. Some would claim that this approach would never get far, but i strongly believe they will be proven wrong. A good craftsman uses his tools to the maximum effectiveness. Whats important is getting the job done . When your opponent knows that you are capable and likely to take risks in a game, but you are also able to play a strong macro game, that odds are strongly stacked in your favor.