StarCraft 2's impossible task has been defeated after 14 years by someone who converted the 'Archon Bidet into an Archon Toilet'

In Utter Darkness, a mission that you are destined to fail in StarCraft 2 Wings of Liberty, is called "In Utter Darkness". The protoss is making a final stand against the zerg forces. The goal of the mission is not to win, but rather to protect an archive that could aid future species in their war against the zerg. You win if you hold the line and kill enough zerg. , you lose. What if destiny could be beaten back? What if you didn’t lose?

Davey Gunface, a YouTuber, set himself the impossible task and 14 years after StarCraft 2 was launched, he managed to pull it of. He didn't technically win because there isn't a win condition. But he didn’t lose either. He was able, by using very high-level StarCraft 2 strategy and exploiting some weaknesses in the AI, to effectively lock the zerg in a stalemate.

Davey's explanation of his strategy will only make sense to StarCraft 2 veterans. It hinges on a few key factors. Artanis is part of the final wave, allowing Davey to use the "Archon Bidet," which is a variation on the Archon Toilet. I learned today that this is a well-known protoss strategy for quickly eliminating large numbers of enemies.

Davey explains: "There's a good reason why I call it the Achon Bidet and not the Archon Toilet." "Because, here's the thing, Artanis has 500 compared to the mothership's base 200 energy, so instead, Chad-tanis can cast up five abilities in rapid succession."

This is important due to another mothership's ability, Mass Recall. Davey was able use this to pack a few units of ground into a small crevice. It's not enough to make a difference, but--he's going deeper here----when combined with Vortex, and Artanis much greater energy cap----which enabled him to squeeze around 24 Templars in the space. They then morphed to Archons who can tear through enemy air attacks with ease.

Even in this crevice, some zerg forces can still attack the protoss units, meaning that they would eventually be wiped-out if the next step of the strategy was "Abuse AI." Davey says that in most StarCraft 2 mission, losing your structures will mean the game is over, no matter how many troops you have deployed. In Utter Darkness, however, is a glorious final stand and all your units and structures must be destroyed to lose. The AI realizes that it cannot reach the Archons, even after it has destroyed his main base, tracked down and killed Zeratul. So the zerg forces stop, "stun-locked for eternity," as Davey described it.

StarCraft 2's own limitation is what has put the final nail in the coffin of the zerg. To prevent lag the game will, at a certain time, stop spawning units until all existing units have been killed. Because the map is inactive, nothing happens. Davey says that after you have waited long enough and set everything up correctly, the protoss will just live. "Forever."

If surviving until the heat death isn't enough, you can kill zerg until only unarmed Overseers are left, who then "fly off to hang out outside of the map." This results in hundreds of them just swaying in the middle, out of bounds. Supply block kicks in and prevents any more units from spawning. With nothing left to threaten them, they do indeed win even though there will never be a checkmark next to their name.

This outcome has consequences that go beyond the survival of protoss. The demonstration of protoss powers means that Kerrigan doesn't need to be there to ensure the existence of the universe. And since no one has to deal with this headache, it has the effect of preventing the trilogy from ever happening. Davey says, "StarCraft 2 concludes here with me and my boys menacingly circling this dumb rock forever." "And I'm sort of okay with that."