The sleeping dragon

“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

"And we are LIVE! at the Weibo IN Diamond Area!!! Give it up for our two players!!!"

The crowd was simmering at the Weibo IN Diamond Arena, Beijing's largest Esports stadium. The commentators went live for the final series of the tournament. 

“Welcome back! I am of course Artosis and we have DeMuslim here for the more refined analysis.”

“Happy to be back, always a pleasure Artosis.” 

“It's the final game in our AI-Starcraft grand tournament and GammaStar the favourite…”

“And of course made by my boys from Blighty, Deepmind. Big up the UK.” 

There was small cheer from the few British and Oceania fans that had made it over. Not the easiest to get a visa these days.

“The champ is going up against newcomer KongMing, built by two random dudes from UESTC in Chengdu. One is a student and the other is in the computer science department, they are relatives I think.” 

“KongMing had a hard road up here, basically just sneaking through every series with a single game to his name. Whilst he has shown some interesting strategies, honestly I don't give him much of a chance against GammaStar.”

“Yeah I have to agree with you DeMuslim, the favourite has simply steamrolled everyone, DeltaStar was already unbeatable and Gamma seems like a step change again, near perfect play as Protoss.”

“Yeah it plays a tight early game, near perfect responses to harassment and then death ball and go, with perfect micro. It has pretty much got the game down I think.” 

“Ok lets jump right in”

“Pretty standard high level worker micro and oh they are having a chat, I do love it when they do that.”

KM: “GL HF CamelStar”

GS: “My name is GammaStar”

KM: “I like camel better, ugly creatures with a hump. As you are about to find out.”

GS: “GL HF”

“Oh wow! That's cool, he's got trash talk! I love it. The digital referee offered a warning to KongMing, more insults and he will forfeit the game.”

“They get better every year! Shame he's not playing Streetfighter, strict rules on trashtalk in Starcraft.”

“The gentlemens game DeMuslim. Pretty standard start we have KongMing as terran top left and GammaStar as Protoss bottom right.”

“Oh KongMing is going for a hidden expand. Bold choice.” 

“When the adepts come out that's highly likely to be scouted. Too bold if you ask me.” 

“Oh he's also skipping gas.”

“Ok wow a very high risk strategy and likely one GammaStar won't have seen, definitely not at this level of play.”

“So you think early un-upgraded marine push to distract and get the hidden base up.”

“Yeah I think so, will Star read it?”

“No! He's going fast expand too, oh this is going to pay off for KongMing.”

“Wow look at the micro on those marines, has he lost one yet, no ahhhh so close, not one! The adepts upgrade is delayed. This is going great for KongMing.”

YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS

“Wow, I've never seen GammaStar sweat before. Oh was that an error in base production. He’s off sequence. That will cost him some time, oh and needs pylons too!”

“Still, the death ball is forming Artosis, Gamma has never lost a 200/200 engagement since deployment. Its control is perfect and the endgame Protoss units, they just hit harder.”

“Ok KongMing has switched plans after that last engagement, he’s pulling back to its central base. What's this? A huge split, off map. Observer zoom out.”

“Hold up, he’s typing again.”

KM: "Come get me, CamelStar.”

“No response from Gamma.”

“KongMing has left the central base totally unguarded.”

“No it's not, it's a mega surround.”

“Oh man you are right, Gamma hesitates and then goes! The zealots rush in, a huge wave of disruptor shots. Massive damage to the terran buildings.”

“And the trap is sprung! It wasn't an empty city!”

A huge roar from the crowd as the heated central engagement fills the screens.

“OH MY GOD! KongMing hits after the Protoss first wave of fire goes down. The zealots and disruptors are on cooldown. Complete surround, timing is perfect!”

“The stim is good! Micro flawless! He's doing it!”

“GammaStar supply crashing! 190 to 162.”

“KongMing is saving every unit, he's got him!”

“YEAH!!! First time GammaStar loses a peak engagement in over 200 games!”

“TOTAL VICTORY! He broke the camel's back!”

The home crowd cheers again and goes wild. They are screaming the underdogs name.

“KongMing rolls into the main base unopposed.”

“GammaStar won't quit! More warpins and a hidden expand. He's fighting back but it's over!”

“The crowd are chanting “Break the camels back!!!” Our two bros from Chengdu are waving them on! Deepminds team look like they are having a meltdown.”

“The digital ref has signalled DeepMind to GG their player.”

“OH whoa! DeepMinds lead engineer just threw his headset on the ground. He’s stormed off.” 

“GammaStar is setting up hidden bases all over the map! Ha! He's a bad loser!”

“KongMing comes in with more trashtalk!”

KM: "It is evident we do not use force to get the upper hand. When we observe an old man of eighty withstanding the assault of a group of people, how can it be due to speed? Oh and CamelStar and DeepMind: My gung fu is stronger than yours."

The crowd roars! They eat up the famous last line.

“My gung fu is stronger than yours! AMAZING! What's the first bit from, can we get an observer to look that up?”

“Well he's clearly referencing the fact that GammaStar is a much more powerful machine, faster and has much more brute force, but he still won.”

“Ah, he's quoting from the taiji classics, kung fu trash talk! Using skill to overcome speed and strength” 

“The Chinese crowd are eating up. Just like KongMing is eating up Gamma’s remaining bases!” 

“Still no GG!!!”

“They quit, they just said they quit the series! He got the whole dev team to rage quit!!!”

“Amazing what a game! One of the all time greats! Deepmind clearly think that they have more to lose by continuing.”

“The crowd are booing them off! Oh as a Brit that hits hard, but I get it, quitting the series, that's shameful.”

Artosis cut the live feed and went straight out with the announcer mic. Swaggering over in a full suit, and huge grin to the winning team.

“Everyone give it up for our new champion! KongMing aka Zhuge Liang! Master strategist and the best Starcraft player on the planet right now!!!!”

The Diamond Area exploded into a thunderous cheer. Everyone was chanting the hometown heroes, the underdogs had won!

KONGMING!

KONGMING!

KONGMING!

Someone ran on the stage and yelled with his shirt off.

“For the great and glorious Han!” 

Security tackled him straight away.