If you look solely at past BSL performances, this matchup seems very one-sided. The last time I wrote one of these writeups, I stated that Bonyth had won 3 seasons of BSL in a row. Now, he's at 4. Having followed the scene since 1998, I think that's genuinely unprecedented.

For a short brood war history lesson, we've had dominant players in the past. Looking at the pre-SC2-phase, the following 6 players at some point reached a status where they were almost unanimously regarded as the best player in the scene: Maynard, Grrrr, Slayer, Elky, Mondragon, Idra. (I could mention a whole lot more names as 'contenders – I'll happily expand in the commentary section if inquired to do so ' – but these are the only ones that stand out as being one notch above the entire rest of the competition, not just for one tournament, but for an extended period of time.)

However – and while we didn't really have a competition equalling BSL back then – none of these players managed to win four of the biggest non-korean tournaments in a row. Now, it's a fair point to make that during the earlier phases of the game, there were more people who tried to be competitive, and thus, I'm not going to claim that Bonyth is the GOAT based on his BSL success. Different eras cannot necessarily be compared with other eras. But if one solely takes the period after SC:R was released into consideration, Bonyth's dominance is undeniable, and he's approaching the same legendary status as the aforementioned 6 players.

Sziky on his end, lost in the ro24 in BSL11. He lost in the ro16 in BSL9. He got 7th place in BSL10. Those three performances marks the totality of his BSL participation. Surely he's drawing nearly dead in this competition?

Not necessarily so. I just listed the players that were the most dominant between 1998-2010, and the one who has been the most dominant since 2017, with the release of Starcraft:Remastered.

There's a 6 year period of time missing from this list. And while he wasn't active for the entirety of it, that era is solidly considered the reign of Sziky. From 2010 until 2013, Sziky dominated, hard. In 2013 Teamliquid hosted three Teamliquid Legacy Starleagues. Sziky won all three – going 38-7 in individual games. The main competition for non-korean players during this period was the defiler.ru tournaments. Between 2011 and 2013, Sziky won 21 out of ~60 tournaments that were hosted. (I have to admit, I've been too lazy to check the individual brackets to see how many of these he actually participated in.)

So – from 1998 until today, my list over 'non-korean players that were so dominant that nearly everybody agreed they were the best' numbers 8 in total. And two of them are facing off in this semi-final.

I also think Sziky is a good match for Bonyth. Looking at the best non-korean zerg players, there are three that stand as mechanically superior to the rest: Sziky, Trutacz and Eonzerg. But while the latter two seem to lack a bit of confidence going into games against Bonyth, which makes them turn to allins or aim to finish games quickly – something Bonyth excels against – I don't think we'll see the same from Sziky. Don't get me wrong – he will occasionally end or try to end zvp games with a mass hydra bust. But he's very unlikely to commit to allins from a low hatchery or drone count. Sziky is more the kind of player who enjoys real slugfests – and he excels at them, too. His mutalisk micro is the best in the scene. His macro is really strong. His multitask is really on point. Where I've seen him falter in the past is that his game decision is inconsistent, and he sometimes takes big engagements from bad positions. Still – what I am describing here is essentially 'Hawk, just better' – and Hawk is one player Bonyth has had an uncharacteristically hard time facing off against.

On Bonyth's end, I think we're somewhat likely to see more consistently aggressive builds, because I don't think he wants Sziky to hit his stride. I expect at least one two-gate opening. Aside from that, I expect excellent micro, strong sair+zealot or sair+dt timings, fantastic storms, occasionally lackluster macro. I'm not sure Bonyth is that likely to show off trademark shuttle harassment – because I expect him to have noticed the same thing I have: That Sziky's drop defense is absolutely top notch.

However, this is also an additional argument for why Bonyth will probably focus on amassing – and preserving – a corsair fleet. Sziky's penchant for hydra-muta play and his tendency to always have scourge in the crucial locations required to intercept shuttles means that corsairs stay prominent, and not just 1-2 for scouting and some overlord harassment. If Bonyth forgoes sairs, then he'll almost certainly go into dark archon – but this style of play – hitting a strong anti hydra-muta timing , lining up upgrades and maelstrom, has never been Bonyth's main forte. Even if it's theoretically a very strong approach against Sziky, Bonyth is the champion, and champions tend to play to their own strengths rather than the perceived weaknesses of their opponents.

Now – making my final prediction – I feel compelled to state that I still think Bonyth is overall the better player. If you match Sziky and Bonyth against the other best players in the scene, I expect Bonyth to produce stronger results overall. However, I think this is going to be Bonyth's first elimination from the BSL since 2019, when he lost the semi final of BSL7 against Eonzerg.

Final prediction:

Sziky Advances to the Grand Finals 3-2!