EPTThere are many whom we thought to see displaying their skills in the glorious theater that is the Grand Finals who fell short. Lets talk about some of those that I would have liked to have seen most.
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Fury of the Swarm that fizzled
Startale Life
(wcs rank: 31)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/HpjwVfe.jpg)
Starting with a bang at the inaugural HOTS at MLG, it's taken ST_Life some time to get back into his comfort. Perhaps a month or two too long, since the time duration between MLG and IEM New York is roughly 7 months.
I still remember the start of the end for LIFE was in the group of death at the GSL Season 1 Korea where we were shocked to see a terran playing macro games and out playing the number one zerg and perhaps the number one player at the time.
LIFE missing the spot by about 16 places will be missed at Blizzcon dearly.
MVP DongRaeGu
(wcs rank: 53)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/0RGX4Qj.jpg)
Unlike LIFE, DongRaeGu lost his repute as the best of the rest very early in HOTS. The Infestor nerf made DRG look almost ordinary and run-of-the-mill in comparison to the new upcoming zergs.
His story was exactly the opposite of that of LIFE. DRG found his balance the same way LIFE had lost it. Defeating Innovation in macro games and making him look vulnerable in the GSL Season 3 Korea established DRG as a threat to reach the top once again and be feared by most if not all in the upcoming Starcraft 2.
The wake up call came too late, but was prominent enough for his absence to be felt at blizzcon.
Soldiers that ran outta bullets
KT Rolster Flash
(wcs rank: 44)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ZKR01Qp.jpg)
With eight terrans in the mix, KT-Flash is probably very sad he's missed the party.
While many wings of liberty players are being looked upon to do well, Flash has brought to the table very little of wings, a lot before and some after. Rain has found his place somewhat, JD too has been chanting 'the tyrant's back!!'. But seriously what is up with the ultimate weapon?
He's shown more than just mere signs of brilliance in the proleague, and has been consistently qualifying again and again for the Code S. But that's it!!
The GSL is difficult, and Season 1 put him in a very difficult spot also, but he's been falling short of foreign tournaments as well. Making mech work against Zerg opponents, and still using the Hell Bats with bio after the nurf.
Every tournament he participates in we look up to him and think he'll dominate, but it really hasn't happened. On the other hand we also haven't seen Flash lose poorly, which is why we still don't doubt him.
The Ultimate Weapon is on par with the best, and it surely is a shame not to see him at blizzcon.
Lost Sons of Aiur
SK Telecom T1 Parting
(wcs rank: 43)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/JPCf7hp.jpg)
The defending champion will no longer have a chance to defend his throne. Parting's always been a treat to watch no matter the match up. The soul train may be the only strategy to date that nobody can execute better than the guy who designed it.
Having qualified to all Premier Leagues, we expected nothing but the best protoss play, and we saw it too. Narrowly falling short every time, its may not be wrong to say that Parting and Flash have both done well, just not well enough.
Blizzcon would have crowned a new champion in a week from now, and the predecessor would have looked awesome there with a chance of being able to stop him.
SK Telecom T1 Rain
(wcs rank: 19)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/SQgE7sk.jpg)
He had made it hadn't he? Rain was going to be there at blizzcon, no? Searching for the best protoss in the world, time and time again Rain would never fall off ones radar. Although somehow he did manage to fall off the top 16.
Innovation took him out in the first, but Rain fell down and got up to stand strong in the second premiere league, only to fall back down at the closing stages of the third.
He's played so well, and shown such awesome games, its a tragedy that Protoss hope will not be counting on Rain to show his ever steady and textbook play at blizzcon.
