Game 1 on Sylphid:
Action makes the exotic choice of fast mutas versus Shuttle's equally exquisite double stargate. The tension in the air was thick with strife between the two fleets waging for supremacy of the skies. However, before the two could even trade a single blow, Action was the first to turn his starry ambitions against himself. Based on the assumption that Shuttle would do the usual speed zealots and 1 stargate, Action had prioritized three fast gases and sunken colonies. His aims were held high - to make a single decisive move to overwhelm Shuttle's main base while holding off a ground attack.

Due to the tragic misread of Shuttle's play, Action had effectively handicapped his own economy. In fact, Shuttle had gone for the perfect antithesis to what Action could have done. Action's remaining tactic was to backstab after Shuttle's inevitable corsair push, but had few resources to defend overlords back home.

While in the aftermath Action won favorable engagements, his economy was far behind while Shuttle gladly massed units off of 2 bases. That eventually snowballed to losing his third, and despite Action's best efforts to stem the rushing flow of Protoss, he was overwhelmed.


Game 2 on Neo Transistor:
Action claimed victory from the outset, opening 9 pool versus Shuttle's fast nexus into delayed gateway. Employing sharp mind games, Action bargained Shuttle wouldn't expect him to take a risk while down in the first game. This was a pivotal turning point in a series for Action, to not go down 0-2.

Game 3 on Autobahn:
Action revealed his penchant for specialized strategies, opening 9 pool into 1 base mutas. Action's mutas made it barely in time to take care of Shuttle's warping-in cannons. Leveling Shuttle's main base, Action was far ahead until Shuttle had amassed enough corsairs at his natural to take a decisive victory in the air. Regaining control of his main, Shuttle's corsair reaver strategy finally had legs to stand on. Subsequent attempts were thwarted though by Action's now bustling economy. Going on for several more sprints, Shuttle was eventually worn down by Action's now thriving 5 bases worth of lurkers, lings, hydras, and defilers.


Game 4 on Circuit Breaker:
Action once again threw another curveball, going 3 hatch hydra, but proxying the 3rd hatch at Shuttle's mineral only. A carefully crafted build, Action's third was meant to be scouted by Shuttle and cause an overreaction of cannons. Meanwhile, back at home, Action merrily droned and took his own mineral only third. He even began to mine from Shuttle's mineral only from the proxy hatchery. More clever than practical though, Action was slightly behind as the privy Shuttle had cancelled two cannons upon scouting with the corsair. To make matters worse, a DT had slipped by Action's front line of hydras. The DT went on to do great things, killing several more drones at Action's mineral only, and 9 o'clock base, setting up Shuttle's main army to land the killing blow.


Game 5 on Sylphid:
Shuttle's 1 gate expand aggression was dealt with by Action in a tense micro exchange. The situation became dicey when in a moment of weakness, Action retreated all of his lings to his natural to defend a DT. However, the DT instead went to Action's third, delaying mining. Then, in another heart stopping moment, Shuttle lost several of his corsairs to scourge.

For Shuttle though, the story had not ended with the departure of his air fleet. It had only begun. Marching onwards from underneath their fallen comrades, Shuttle's zealot army struck quickly and decisively. Action had just barely gotten mutas out, hampered by taking his mineral only as his third. He microed the best he could with what mutas and hydras were left, but with no sunkens to strengthen his flimsy defenses, the situation looked grim. The turning point of the game finally yielded to Shuttle's uproarious charge, stealing victory from the jaws of defeat.

With both players sitting out the ongoing season of the KSL, albeit for different reasons, performing well in the ASL is without a shadow of a doubt the only thing on their minds. Flash gave the Korea StarCraft League a miss, citing the need to focus solely on reclaiming the mantle of ASL champion after an unexpected Round of 8 defeat at the hands of Snow in the previous iteration of the tournament. With three OSL and three MSL championships under his belt during the KeSPA era, Flash, having returned from competitive StarCraft II, has already made a major splash during the Kongdoo/Afreeca era, claiming three ASL titles in a row.

Despite being an unprecedented feat of strength that’s not likely to be matched by anyone, Flash’s exploits have somewhat warped our definition of success and distorted the idea of a ‘realistic’ expectation. God Young Ho failing to emerge victorious in every single tournament is somehow an upset (not like it happens all too often, mind you). And the matter of predictability bears with it the inherent threat of a competitive environment becoming stale, with the same players winning over and over again to the point of tedium. I’d rather avoid bringing up the old ‘we need new blood’ discussion for the n-th time, so to cut to the chase - although I’m a massive Flash fanboy, I was well chuffed when he got eliminated from ASL5.

As far as Shuttle is concerned, per contra, the matter of relevance comes to mind. Losing to an amateur in the KSL qualifiers, however un-dignifying, seems to have given him the boost he needed. Shuttle’s ASL1 victory was promptly followed by a major slump, seeing him eliminated from the following season without picking up a single map. Things only seemed to be getting worse, as the Protoss failed to make it out of the Round of 24 in ASL3. Shuttle finally managed to step up his game in ASL5, where he got through to the Round of 8 (where his tournament run also came to a halt), having taken down the likes of Larva and EffOrt in the process.

It goes without saying that reaching the semi-finals of the current season of the ASL is by and large the best result Shuttle has had in a long time. Getting past Flash who's currently sitting at a 76% TvP winrate this month, and who has a winning record against him (Flash won 7 out of 10 games) will be a tall order. And as much as I’d like to see the champ of ASL1 perform well, I doubt he’ll manage to give the Ultimate Weapon a run for his money. No matter the result, though, Shuttle clearly did something right in ASL6. Fingers crossed he keeps it up.

Prediction: Flash 3-0 Shuttle

Flash to advance to the grand final!