EPT![[image loading]](http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/BigFan_2008/Banner_zps1d294323.jpg)
After fighting through an epic TvZ best of seven series against a player who many consider to be the top Zerg currently, Mind finally claims his first championship ever of the SoSPA Brood War era by taking 1st place in the 41 Starleague 2. The former KT Rolster Terran, who once took down a MSL against Bisu back in 2007, once again proved his reputation as a dark horse, exceding all previous expectations and displaying his strong, and stylishly varied, TvZ.
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Mind's road to the finals was not easy however. In the Round of 32, Mind surprisely lost 0-2 against Larva in the winner's match, forcing him to play a close TvP series against free, one of the Six Protoss Dragons. He would have to play against another Protoss player in the form of STX Mini to advance in second of the Round of 16 group stages, after losing the first match against another STX Protoss: Shuttle. Both final matches Mind won narrowly with a 2-1 score.
However, when the Round of 8 started, Mind put his gears into motion. After slaughtering CJ Cola easily in the Round of 8, Mind found himself again facing Shuttle, this time in a best of seven series. Despite Shuttle sticking to his Carrier/High Templar strategy throughout the long series, Mind demonstrated his supreme understanding of the match-up by correctly forcing base trades on Medusa and intelligent positional play later on. Mind got his revenge with a 4-2 score, and Shuttle was defeated.
The finals between Killer and Mind was set and Mind had all the preparations ready. He led the first game with a classical SK Terran mass marine/medic timing against Killer's 7 o' clock base on Circuit Breaker. Despite cutting corners and rushing to Ultralisks, the stream of marines shredded the unupgraded Ultras, securing Mind the first game. The second game Mind chose to take a risk, by going for a proxy Barracks on Heartbreak Ridge, similar to a Proleague match he once played. However, Killer luckily went pool first, receiving a build order win, tying up the series 1-1.
Mind streams his bio against Killer's Ultras!
Game 3 started off with Mind showing us something new again: an early academy bio army with 2 factories producing Goliaths. Despite the seemingly strong push, Killer opted for lurkers and Mind walked into a dangerously laid stopped Lurker trap, losing all his Goliaths in the process. After losing game 3, Mind tried the same strategy again, but to no avail. However, with some excellent late game Dropship play, Mind was able counter Killer's lurkers play by abusing the terrain on Electric Circuit, tying up the series again with a 2-2 score.
The devastating stopped Lurker trap!
Throughout the series, Killer showed his trademark aggression and superior micro, courtesy of his mentor and former teammate Jaedong. Game 5 was no different, while Mind being no different by going for SK Terran once more. However, Killer's aggressive nature seems to have clouded his better judgement in game 5 as his Defiler Mound was going up. Seeing Mind's army in the middle of the map Match Point, Killer attacked recklessly without Dark Swarm, but Mind's superior upgrade and excellent spread held against what seemed like a confident attack from Killer. Having witnessed his mistake of not being patient and waiting another minute for his Defilers to enter the field, Killer immediately tapped out.
Terran upgraduuu! Terran upgraduuu!
With a 3-2 lead, Mind decided to mix it up again by going for mech play and the map Destination is notorious for this. Mind successfully was able to run by with Vultures early game and snipe a fair amount of drones at Killer's natural. The vulture harass would continue throughout the game as Mind built up his Goliath and Tank count. Killer tried to mass up an army of Hydralisks, but carelessly lost half of his Hydralisk count after a botched attack into a mine field and well fortified tank line. After a final desperate attempt at going Guardians late game, Mind's Goliaths proved too much and Killer was forced to surrender. It was then that Mind finally secured what he always wanted: not only a 1st place finish after leaving KesPA, but a reputation of being able to compete with some of the top Afreeca Brood War players.
After the $86,000+ prize pool LoveTV Starleague 3 was announced, many were afraid that the lack of Sea and sSak would mean that the biggest Korean Brood War league hosted in the post-televised history of the game would be very weak in terms of the Terran line-up. However, with Mind finally proving that he can be considered among the best, and with PianO making a deep run in the BCTV Starleague 1, new Terran faces appear to carry the torch and make a mark for themselves as the players to look out for in the future of the greatest RTS in the world.
