The first game gave me some hope for a somewhat even series but holy this was one-sided. It's insane that at this level one player makes the other one look like 2 ranks below.
I honestly don't know if Soulkey can be stopped. I personally don't think his ZvP is too hot but both Snow and Best don't seem like the kind of candidates who can beat him. I think Light has the best chances but Soulkey's ZvT looks insane with his defense being almost impenetrable. It's usually not something I say for TvZ, especially when Light is involved, but I think it's going to be an uphill battle for Light in this case.
What's wild to think about is how SoulKey has somehow avoided Zergs for the most part on this potential 4-peat run and ZvZ does seem to be his weakest match up.
In the past 4 ASL's (including this one), he has only played 3 matches against Zergs.
Hero where he won 4-3
Hero again where he won 2-1
And Calm where he lost 0-1
That's 6-5 in ZvZs with only a winning rec over Hero and it's just barely a winning record. Obviously this way worst than his ZvT and ZvP records which are ridiculous.
Obviously he is great ZvZ and can go toe to toe with anyone but it is his worst MU by a mile (boasting 51% lifetime win rate in it) and he's somehow primarily faced only Protoss' and Terrans on his way to such dominance. I guess it helps when you get the last group switch every year but still, it's pretty fortunate for him.
Side note: I think the luckiest ASL run was RoyaL's run (not saying SK's is lucky, he's clearly the best right now). But RoyaL literally avoided every Protoss all tournament and just cheesed the fuck out of every Zerg and Terran on his way to a title lol. It was a title run that made me feel gross watching.
On May 08 2025 06:01 G5 wrote: What's wild to think about is how SoulKey has somehow avoided Zergs for the most part on this potential 4-peat run and ZvZ does seem to be his weakest match up.
In the past 4 ASL's (including this one), he has only played 3 matches against Zergs.
Hero where he won 4-3
Hero again where he won 2-1
And Calm where he lost 0-1
That's 6-5 in ZvZs with only a winning rec over Hero and it's just barely a winning record. Obviously this way worst than his ZvT and ZvP records which are ridiculous.
Obviously he is great ZvZ and can go toe to toe with anyone but it is his worst MU by a mile (boasting 51% lifetime win rate in it) and he's somehow primarily faced only Protoss' and Terrans on his way to such dominance. I guess it helps when you get the last group switch every year but still, it's pretty fortunate for him.
Side note: I think the luckiest ASL run was RoyaL's run (not saying SK's is lucky, he's clearly the best right now). But RoyaL literally avoided every Protoss all tournament and just cheesed the fuck out of every Zerg and Terran on his way to a title lol. It was a title run that made me feel gross watching.
Royal didnt only cheese. he also won some legit standard games vs the best zergs
I thought Royal played very well, and he had really good builds as well. And his win he was very good against Protoss too for a few months. Heck, he beat Snow in several series. I feel like he's underrated, although he sometimes does himself no favours...
On May 08 2025 21:36 RowdierBob wrote: Poor Snow gonna get wrecked for the third season in a row by SK.
Pretty crazy they’re playing each other in the semis for a 3rd time in a row. I don’t think this has ever happened in any tournament before? It’s at least very rare, even with a smaller player pool nowadays.
On May 08 2025 21:36 RowdierBob wrote: Poor Snow gonna get wrecked for the third season in a row by SK.
Pretty crazy they’re playing each other in the semis for a 3rd time in a row. I don’t think this has ever happened in any tournament before? It’s at least very rare, even with a smaller player pool nowadays.
Snow’s only real chance is to mix it up Mini style with his builds. If plays same old predictable macro style then SK will pick him apart.
Whichever way he plays though, it’s hard to see Snow winning. SK just doesn’t have any peers on his level atm.
Snow, please bring reavers back to PvZ. There's gotta be a unit composition that makes them effective in the midgame. They're powerful AOE that's cheap on gas, and they even outrange lurkers!
On May 09 2025 12:57 Severedevil wrote: Snow, please bring reavers back to PvZ. There's gotta be a unit composition that makes them effective in the midgame. They're powerful AOE that's cheap on gas, and they even outrange lurkers!
There was a DT-Reaver timing like a decade ago iirc maybe that'll make a comeback. It looked stupid strong although idk how well it will do against modern zergs especially the current best zerg and the most dominating player