EPT
StarTale-Yoe Flash Wolves vs. Prime
8th. 8th. 7th. 7th. Last season’s Proleague standings make grim reading for any Prime fan. 2014 has been a terrible year for Prime. The slow decay of their squad over time has left them far adrift at the foot of the table, as their existing stars crashed and burned, and their exciting talent poached bit by bit. The recent success of the pied piper Choya and his trio of lured players (MarineKing, DeParture, Salvation) must surely sting. However, recent acquisitions have made some more confident that this is their season (not to finish last).
MyuNgSiK was brought in from KT Rolster. His results are pretty average, with a win rate of slightly below 50% in offline games in 2014, although successful qualification for the SSL Ro. 32 over TRUE, Trap and Reality may be signs of a brighter 2015. However, it’s very difficult to forget the way he crumbled under pressure in the playoffs in a hilarious game against TRUE, and unless he improves in this aspect a decent record in Proleague, let alone as the possible ace player for Prime, is difficult to imagine.
YoDa is the second high profile transfer, and will go a long way to fixing Prime’s current Terran woes. Unfortunately, the remaining newbies aren’t quite as renowned; BBoongBBoong was previously released from Prime, Nette has played 22 career games, while TANGTANG might be the most beloved SC2 gamer in LR history despite never playing a televised game or having a Liquipedia page.
It’ll be tough for Prime to avoid repeating their dismal performance from last season. And what better way to kick off their attempt than to face their oldest enemy? StarTale are back from the dead, and, partnered with Yoe Flash Wolves, are the newest addition to Proleague to replace the sadly deceased Incredible Miracle.
Bomber, Life, San. That’s not a bad trio at all to base your core lineup on, and arguably rivals any other team in Proleague. However, questions abound. Will Life be able to translate individual success into his team league performances? How much will Bomber play? Will the Taiwan-based section of the team be able to play much? How willing will they be to unleash Has’s bullshit? ST-Yoe are a completely unknown quantity, and it’ll be interesting to see whether initial success in the first few weeks will cause them to focus more on Proleague as the season goes on.
Bomber <Merry Go Round> YoDa
Life <KTV Foxtrot Labs> TerrOrLeenock <Overgrowth> 
CreatorCurious <Deadwing> MyuNgSiKAce: <King Sejong Station>
Just days after stating that he would be moving to more of a coaching role in ST-Yoe’s Proleague, Bomber sends himself out as his team’s starting player. A typically bold move, he unfortunately lands himself against YoDa, the one player on Prime who probably lines up best against him (with the exception of any pre-prepared cheese). Of course, Bomber still possesses the ability to roll straight through any player in the world; however, his TvT has recently displayed signs of weakness. Sure, his only series losses in the past 3 months have been 2-1 to Dynamite (perhaps a one-off) and a high profile 1-3 loss against MMA at Blizzcon. But it’s the manner of certain games lost, even within series he’s won, that leave him vulnerable in a BO1 format.
![[image loading]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0WC3x4D6kmw/maxresdefault.jpg)
Chances of this happening again?
For our second match up, here are some relevant stats. Life has a 72% win rate in ZvZ throughout 2014, despite widely regarded as ‘slumping’ all the way to Blizzcon, and currently seems to be on the hottest streak in all of SC2. Terror has a 48% win rate, and an 0-6 record in last season’s Proleague. Unless something magical happens, there’s only going to be one outcome here.
Next, ST-Yoe roll out Leenock. Last season, Leenock made one appearance in Proleague for Prime, losing to Rain. It was very strange to see inferior Zergs put out time and time again ahead of Leenock (Terror being an example), and whether it was because he was living in Taiwan and didn’t want to play, or whether the Prime coaches had faith in their young rookies, it’s good to see him getting a run out here. Up against him is Creator, whose performance last year was sometimes Prime’s only saving grace. However, he recorded a poor 3-9 record against Zerg, which remains his weakest matchup.
Finally, we have Curious’s statistically worst matchup against MyuNgSiK’s best. However, Curious has recently been on a tear through Protoss, beating Arthur and sOs twice to qualify for GSL, and Hush and sOs again to qualify for SSL. MyuNgSiK on the other hand remains an inconsistent player, and we’ll have to see which variant will turn up.
Conclusion
ST-Yoe really should roll over Prime here; they're favourites in sets 2-4, and even in the opening match Bomber’s not exactly going to make it easy for YoDa. Even if Prime pick up wins from YoDa and another (MyuNgSiK, say), would you back any of them in an ace match against Life?
Predictions
Bomber <Merry Go Round> YoDaLife <KTV Foxtrot Labs> TerrOrLeenock <Overgrowth> CreatorCurious <Deadwing> MyuNgSiKStarTale-Yoe Flash Wolves 3 – 1 Prime
