The two had both exhibited excellent judgment regarding the overall flow of the battle from the very beginning.
Both players had achieved their goal in the early stage of the match.
There was no apparent winner in the early scouting and harassment. Despite Wang Tong's passive-aggressive defense, Flash was able to put the pressure on his opponent's line and prevent it from creeping forward while maintaining an advantage in the economy. The two players knew each other too well, and therefore, they both had to be very careful to not to make the slightest mistake, since even a minor slip up would not slip away unnoticed under their opponent's nose.
Ten minutes later, the game entered the middle stage. Flash's third base was already making a significant contribution to the invading force, while Wang Tong's third base had just finished its construction. Flash had gained the upper hand in terms of both strength and economy, but Wang Tong's turtle defense was also near completion. It was the right time for Flash to wage a full-on assault since. Without a stable economy, his opponent was at his weakest.
This was the most dangerous time for Wang Tong. He had paid a hefty price to build up his defensive line; the rank of his force was thinner, and his economy was meager compared to his opponent. If he were dragged into a large scale battle that lasted more than two minutes, his sluggish economy would turn around to bite him in the arse.
It all came down the sense of timing, an unteachable skill.
Flash didn't attack as soon as he noticed the weakness in his opponent. He waited for another five minutes, gathering more forces in the process, and then charged his units out of his base to Wang Tong's newly constructed third base.
The third base was extremely important to Wang Tong since, with the first two bases' resources dwindling, the support of his entire force hinged upon it. Sensing the urgency, Wang Tong detached a significant number of units to aid the third base's defense. Forces from two sides engaged in a fierce battle immediately. Units on both sides complimented each other's power while mobilizing swiftly without losing formation. Both players had their advantages, as Wang Tong relied heavily on his defense while Flash counted on his superior number of units and his stronger economy.
The two forces fired at each other as units dropped like flies. Flash's attack had struck a hefty blow to Wang Tong, since his attack came down on Wang Tong when he hadn't yet gotten the chance to break even the cost of building the third base. Besides, the third base was relatively remote from Wang Tong's medic units, and therefore, he did not gain much benefit for fighting as the defender.
The two engaged in a fierce battle; both waited for their opponent to slip up while sustaining heavy casualties. It was a moment of life and death.
Slowly but surely, Flash's reinforcements started to gather force. It began as a trickle of units, and in a short period of time, it had already formed a steady stream. In a few moments, Flash had doubled his units.
This had again proven Flash's terrific ability to control the flow of battlefield by snatching even the slightest opportunity, and turning it into profit. Wang Tong was in danger; if he lost his third base, he might as well have lost the round. The critical component in any defensive tactic was to maintain a steady economy during the middle phase. It would become less important during the late game, since micro control would start to take center stage.
Flash gathered his force in front of Wang Tong's base and was ready for the final charge.
Suddenly, Flash noticed red lights flash on his dashboard, informing him that his second base was under attack by stealth fighters.
In the heat of the battle, Wang Tong leveraged his superior soul energy and micro, and sneaked a transport ship out of his base under Flash's nose. However, he didn't drop the fighters right away. Instead, he had reserved it until the last moment, right before Wang Tong's base was about to be swallowed whole by his opponent's force.
Although the four stealth fighters were relatively cheap units, they had wreaked havoc on Flash's base, slaughtering defenseless units.
Flash suddenly found a dilemma being presented to him. If he chose to save his base, he would have given Wang Tong the precious time to beef up his defense. However, if he decided to do the otherwise, his number of bases would be reduced to two, and even if he were able to obliterate Wang Tong's third base, they would both continue the rest of the game with two bases—not that much of advantage after all the units were lost.
Only after the slightest hesitation, Flash doubled down on his determination of destroying Wang Tong's third base as he charged his force into his opponent's base and a fierce battle started anew.
While dealing with the ever-changing tide of the battle at the front line, Flash also started to produce units in his base to counter Wang Tong's harassment. However, that was exactly what Wang Tong wanted — a distraction.
Since Wang Tong was on the defensive side, many defensive facilities had drastically reduced his AMP required at the front line. Therefore, he was able to control the four stealth units to dodge and charge at his will. On the other hand, both his invading army and the home base screamed at Flash for more attention and AMP, and while Flash was struggling to keep up with everything, his unit production fell short.
Wang Tong's timing was perfect, as the sudden halt in Flash's unit supply staggered him, giving Wang Tong the precious time to prepare for the final battle. When Flash eventually killed the four stealth fighters, Wang Tong had already passed the critical moment and started to tip the scale in his favor.
So brilliant was Wang Tong's maneuver, that only four units had changed the tide of the battle.
Flash wasn't ruffled by the development, as he immediately started to focus on gathering more forces to keep the pressure on Wang Tong. He had conceded that he had missed the best opportunity to cripple Wang Tong's economy, and without a constant harassment, Wang Tong's expansion would very quickly get out of control.
Although it seemed that Flash still had a chance of winning this round, the battle had already ended when Wang Tong's third base was up and running again.
Flash's battle awareness was brilliant, but it failed to predict Wang Tong's incredible maneuver.
The battle had finally entered the late stage where it started to become an arms race for humongous battle-cruisers. With the aid of his clone technique, Wang Tong won the final battle with ease.
The score changed to one to zero in favor of Wang Tong.
Cheers and hoorays rose from Ayrlarng at the sight of Wang Tong's victory. It was an honest victory using honest skills, since there were no tricks nor deceiving involved after both opponents had seen through each other's ploy.
These two fighters were able to find out flaws in near flawless strategies. This ability was what set them apart from other contestants.
"Brother Shiming, you have thought too highly of this kid. It's a waste of our time." Porten said while he was visibly irritated.
He was not fond of Wang Tong, not only because of his low-class status, but also because of the seemingly intimate relationship he had with Li Ruoer.