I’ll spare you the lengthy expose about how Light turned from a mediocre offline performer to the kind of guy that has a shot at being the only back-to-back KSL and ASL champion. The reasons are twofold: we’ve already been through that, and more importantly, the fanbase seems to have largely recognized and come to terms with the fact that his victorious KSL run was not just a fluke. Even so, there were—and still are—those that have doubts about Lee Jae Ho’s chances of winning this ASL, myself included. But facts speak for themselves, and what we’ve seen this season from him has been nothing short of impressive.

What is more surprising, though, is that his approach to the game has not changed that much, if at all. It’s just refined. Light still exhibited his downright insane resilience in the face of aggression, especially pronounced in the mudfight low-eco games versus Stork on Sylphid and versus Soma on Polypoid. He still lost the former, true, but what was remarkable was his readiness to sacrifice part of his economy and happily indulge in scrappy duels of small-scale army maneuvering. We all know how good Light is when he gets his economic infrastructure going. For that matter, he lost a number of games in previous seasons by predictably going for greedy builds and getting punished by early aggression. But that glass jaw seems to have been taken care of.

Speaking about refining, something struck me as I watched him against Soma in the Ro4. We had just watched Flash go down against ZerO, arguably a victim of overintellectualization and preference for novel builds rather than standard play. Light was the complete opposite in his series. Soma threw a bunch of clever strategies at him which he just shrugged off with precisely executed, stock standard 2-rax-academy builds. That was the philosophy of Flash not too long ago, his credo: “Throw at me what you will; this is what I do, and I have mastered it, so I’ll win.” Granted, Light was willing to go for standard play and rely on his superior mechanics all too often in the past with mixed results (his loss to Where in KSL2 comes to mind). Now he’s apparently just better at it.



And it’s execution that makes Light really dangerous. He’s often been regarded as one of the most insanely aggressive TvZ players in the history of the game, not to mention a TvZ legend, but there’s more to that than just aggression. He’s incisive. He’s perfectly fine with parking a bunch of bio just in front of his natural for a while for tactical flexibility. He’ll sometimes patiently move around the map to assert map control and deny vision rather than seek engagements. And then he’d jump for the jugular with a quick succession of drops at different places or a crazy bait-and-switch two-pronged bust like he did versus Soma on Escalade.

This doesn’t mean Light’s not flexible strategically, though. Although sturdy bio play is his go-to in the matchup, he’s comfortable with 1-1-1 openers and mech builds, too, not to mention his taste for 2-port Wraith. Flash’s version of the valk/bio is also a possibility. The two games that Flash won with that build were absolute stomps, so I’d call the build quite viable. Just wondering what weapon from his considerable arsenal he’ll choose must be a serious burden for ZerO, who favors an intellectual approach to the game not unlike Flash’s.

None of the above is meant to say that Light comes into the matchup as a favorite. Frankly, even as I’m writing those lines, I have my doubts. ZerO is in insane shape right now. Light, for his part, does not fare too well with negative sponmatch win rates in April against most top Zergs including the newly returned hero. In fact, his most recent online results suspiciously suggest a slump, and the main reason I’m not writing him off completely is that Light had similar results before his match with Soma. ZerO’s offline experience dwarfs that of Soma, though, and his choking days are apparently gone.

Regarding maps, things are not looking too bright for Light. Horizon Lunar Colony has the potential to be a very bad map for Terran depending on spawns and Neo Sylphid has turned into a Terran graveyard this ASL with a score of 0-4. Inner Coven also appears to be problematic for Terran, even though Light himself has fared pretty well there. Online, he has decent win rates on most of those maps, but not against ZerO.

But Light most certainly possesses the fundamental skill set required to overcome his opponent. Tactics will very likely be the deciding factor in the series. Should ZerO zone him out with his impeccable mutalisk micro and movement, Light might find himself in dire straits. He needs to keep the means to leverage pressure for as long as possible and deny vision in particular.

All in all, this very much hangs in the balance for me, despite the stats mentioned earlier. The two players’ playstyles exacerbate the intrinsic volatility of the TvZ matchup, and more likely than not the victor will be decided by spur-of-the-moment tactical decisions.

Light can definitely take this. It will all be decided in this place, on this day, and it’s going to be an uphill battle for him. Also, it’s going to be awesome.

ZerO > Light on Horizon Lunar Colony
ZerO > Light on Neo Sylphid
ZerO < Light on Hitchhiker
ZerO > Light on Match Point
ZerO < Light on Inner Coven
ZerO > Light on Escalade
ZerO > Light on Polypoid

Zero takes the crown 4-2!

---