"Hey, do you want to go out with me?"

"Well, TOP, you're nice and all, but I already got asked by MVP, Optimus and July."

"Aren't I just as good as them!? I won Code A a few months ago!"

"MVP has won two GSL's and a MLG."

"...But...I have a winning record against Optimus."

"He won the Super Tournament by beating you in the semifinals. He also won $100,000. How much did you get for winning Code A? $50? $50 and a GOM t-shirt?"

"July hasn't even won anything yet in Starcraft 2. At least I'm better than him, right?"

"He's motherf***ing July. He has a golden mouse. Where is your golden mouse, TOP?"

"...Oh...okay..."

That sums up TOP. He's the boy that always shows great games and has some nice accomplishments, but hasn't been considered a real threat yet to grab a title. If you want proof, look at the TeamLiquid poll on who the community thinks is going to win the GSL. TOP is behind two guys who got eliminated a week ago and is trailing the other three semifinalists by thousands of votes.

Don't get the wrong idea, though. TOP is a very, very good player and has been for a long time. He won the first Code A championship and has been in Code S ever since. Not only has he stayed in Code S, but he's been impressive in almost all the tournaments he has been apart of. Let's look at his past GSL performances to see how good TOP is.

First season in Code S: Starts out rocky by dropping games to Nada and HongUn, but at least beats TheWorst (Editor's note: We know he's much better now, but the two season penalty we imposed on him during the super tournament still holds) before going to the Up-and-Down matches where he swept Rain.

Second time in Code S: Gets out of the group phase for the first time by beating Byun and Rainbow. He then goes on to get into the quarterfinals by beating his own teammate Supernova in the round of sixteen. Sadly, he has to face Nada for the second straight Code S and gets bounced out.

Super Tournament: TOP has an amazing run. He starts off by romping August and follows it up by taking out Choya. Then, in the round of sixteen, he is put against the defending champion, the God of Zerg, Nestea. Most expected him to lose, but TOP pulled it out with some tricky builds and nicely timed hellion attacks. After beating Nestea, he took down Line in a dramatic 3-2 series. Finally, in the semifinals, he faced Optimus and had him on the ropes. Behind 1-2 in the fourth game, Optimus pulled out a genius timing attack, sandwiching TOP's army and somehow forcing a fifth game. Obviously shaken, TOP fell apart in the last game and was eliminated. Optimus would then go on and win the finals in dominating fashion, beating MMA 4-0.

His next Code S try: Gets out of the group phase once more by beating FruitDealer and Virus. He then has to go up against Losira who he lost to in a close 2-1 series. Losira would then go on and make it into the finals before getting destroyed by Nestea.

That leads us to where we are now with TOP. He's in another semifinal and close to his first big final with the guy who beat him in his last semifinal standing in his way. He might not be favored to get into the Code S final, but I wouldn't be shocked at all if he won the whole tournament. He's an amazingly solid player with the talent to be one of the best terrans in the world if he isn't already.

TOP started his GSL career by facing Optimus in the second round of the first GSL Open. The result? TOP waltzed over Optimus and then, like he has so often, had to face one of the eventual finalists, FruitDealer, and lost 2-1.

Can TOP finally get over the hump and reach the GSL finals? Is it his time to finally stop losing to finalists and become one himself?




What can Optimus do to be considered one of the best players in the world? Since February 25th, 2011, the day after he got the whole foreign community to hate him for saying Jinro got lucky to make two straight semifinals and then promptly getting his ass kicked by him, he has gone 51-21 with a 70.83% winning percentage. He won the biggest tournament in SC2 history by beating the heavy favorite MMA in a 4-0 stomping. He is second in Korean ELO and only trails Nestea in points. He's made his run through this GSL by having to play his worst match-up every single round.

I used to hate this guy. I absolutely hated him. He was probably my most hated player after telling Jinro that he wasn't that good of a player and then looking like an idiot when Jinro wrecked him right after saying it. Whenever someone brought up that they thought he was alright or good, I would scoff and say that he would probably be in Code A before too long.

Well, I was wrong. Even when he wasn't getting deep into tournaments, Polt, Optimus, Poltimus or whatever you want to call him, just wouldn't go away. When he was knocked out of Code S and looked like he might finally drop into the hell that is Code A and below, LiveForever quit playing Starcraft and a wildcard tournament was held to see who would stay around. Polt beat his teammate Maka, Moon and then Cezanne to keep his place in Code S.

Polt was knocked down many times, but every time he would get right back up. After a while, he finally started to do well in Code S. He made his way out of the group stages for the first time after beating MC twice and shocking many who were watching. How the hell was PoltPrime beating MC!? This wasn't supposed to happen!

He couldn't keep the momentum going in the next round, losing to sC in a close series (and good thing he lost or we would have never seen Nestea vs. sC in the semifinals), but it was the first time that it looked like there was more than meets the eye. Next up was the Super Tournament where he went through one of the hardest roads to win the biggest cash prize in Starcraft 2 history.

Ro64: While some people got ButterflyEffect or LegalMind, Optimus drew Losira in the first round. It went to three games, but Optimus inched it out in the end and eliminated the Incredible Miracle zerg. Losira would then go on and make the finals the next Code S tournament.

Ro32: Huk was the next person on the road to the title, and with Optimus' superb TvP, it wasn't a very close series. Optimus won 2-0, but Huk has seen success since the Super Tournament by making it to the quarterfinals twice in the past two GSL's.

Ro16: In a team kill, Optimus had to go against Maka. This was the match that actually made me a total fan of the guy. Before this match, I was on the fence, but watching his micro in this series was just astounding. His bionic force in the third game was some of the prettiest micro I've ever seen in the GSL.

Ro8: Alicia was the last protoss standing and was heralded for his great PvT. When they faced off, Optimus crushed him and it wasn't pretty. The most hyped quarterfinal match would have been the most lopsided series as well if it wasn't for a guy named TheBestWorst facing MarineKing.

Semifinals: Oh hey, it's TOP. One of the closest semifinals I've seen through the nine seasons. TOP had the series won in the fourth set, but Optimus' used his bionic timing attack to sandwich TOP's main army and pull even in the series. TOP tilted in the last set and made way for Optimus making the final.

Grand Finals: We all know what happened. MMA was heavily favored. Optimus destroyed him. A lot of people still think MMA would have won if he hadn't been overworked with the MLG and GSTL before the finals, but Optimus outplayed him completely that day.

After his title win, people still weren't sold on him. Some people were putting his wins more on his opponents playing badly then him playing well. This led to the July version of Code S where Optimus made it through the group stages again and then had to face Bomber in the round of sixteen. He lost in straight sets and once more, a lot of the community were saying how his title win must have been a fluke and he would fall off sooner or later.

Now, in the present, Optimus has gone through the gauntlet. He was put into the group of champions with MC and MVP. He lost to MVP in the group stage, but beat Noblesse (who he picked due to wanting to get over weak TvT) twice to get into the round of sixteen. He would then meet his old friend MMA and beat him again, this time in a close 2-1 series. Keen was his quarterfinal opponent and beat him comfortably 3-1.

He stated at the group ceremonies that he wanted to challenge himself by picking a terran and trying to make himself better in his weakest match-up. Well, whatever he wished, he has gotten in full. Every single game he's played this tournament has been against terran, and he might be looking at another terran in MVP if he makes it to the finals.

Optimus might not wow you with amazing builds or new strategies, but just like TOP, he's solid. His timing attacks might be the best in the world, and he knows how to use his bionic units to the best of their ability. He can be behind for 90% of the game, but can think up an attack that turns the match on it's head in less than twenty seconds.

So for all the haters that still hate Mr. Poltimus, continue to hate him. It makes him stronger. This robot is not fueled by gasoline, but by the hatred of people who think he isn't that good of a player. Oh, and his neck. His long neck is also a source of his power.





This is why people love July. He knows that he might not be Nestea or one of the very top players in the world, but he will do anything in his power to get the victory. He doesn't believe that he is the best, but he wants to be the guy who beats the best people. Out of any of the finalists, July might want this title more than any of them. Optimus, TOP and MVP have all won at least some sort of GSL tournament. July made it to the Code S Grand Finals once, but got dismantled by MC when he got there.

You can talk about how his creep spread isn't the best or how he's a little too aggressive at times, but July knows who he is. He is the God of War and he won't change his way of playing just because people don't think it's the best way to play. He won three OSL's in Brood War by being who he is, and he thinks he can win a GSL by being himself.

Does July have any shot against MVP? Well, he won't be favored by any means, but it is his best match-up, and he did defeat him before in the GSL right after MVP had won his first championship. For July to win, he quite possibly will have to play his best series ever in the GSL. MVP is destroying everyone at the moment, and July didn't look at his best in his quarterfinal match against Ryung.



In the end, July is going to have to make some magic. If he can get past MVP, then his confidence will be through the roof when he has to take on either Optimus or TOP in the finals. July knows that these chances don't come by too often, so I expect to see the best of July when he goes against MVP.

MVP might have won MLG, have two GSL titles, and be on an incredible run, but this is the God of War. You don't mess around with the God of War.




All you need to know about MVP is that he is undefeated in his last seven games. In those seven games? He beat Huk in commanding fashion and three players who have a combined six GSL title between them. Oh, and he also won MLG Anaheim and looks almost unstoppable at the moment.

Can any of the final three players stop him? His supposed weakest match-up, against protoss, didn't matter at all when he faced Huk in the last round. Ever since qxc and Bomber beat him back-to-back in the GSTL, MVP has been on a war path by crushing everyone in his way.

He got chosen by MC in the group stages and then made him regret that decision by beating him in the first game of the tournament. He would then go against Optimus, the only other terran champion beside himself, and beat him with superior macro and composition. Even after beating two champions in decisive fashion, he was given the 'gift' of facing his very own teammate, and defending champion, Nestea in the next round.

He had beaten Nestea before to win his first ever GSL championship and did it again to move into the quarterfinals where he faced off against Huk. MVP is trying to duplicate Nestea's run last season where he went undefeated through the whole tournament, but while beating much tougher opponents than even Nestea had to go through. The only way MVP's road could have been tougher is if Mr. Chae forced him to face MC, Huk, Optimus and Nestea all at once.

MVP is the clear favorite going into the semifinals. 52% of the community thinks he is going to win it all. The only negative he has going into his match against July is that he lost to him in the fifth GSL; that was also at a time where MVP looked unstoppable after winning his first championship the tournament before in a 4-0 mauling of poor MarineKing.

If MVP plays at his best, it's hard to imagine he doesn't at least make the finals. July is a great player and has more experience, but that can only take you so far. MVP is walking up the steps to his throne, and he can become the king of terran once more if he can discard of July and beat either Optimus or TOP in the finals. MVP has had four seasons of disappointment since beating MarineKing in the World Championships, but this is his chance to reclaim the crown that he wore so proudly months back with MC (whose crown is now split in two and crumbling) and Nestea.

Nestea has three championships and MVP doesn't want to be left behind. July, TOP and Optimus better play the series of their lives, because at the moment, MVP doesn't look like he can be beat. Nestea won thirteen games straight to win the title last season. Can MVP upstage him by winning fourteen straight this season? Only time will tell, but let's hope Artosis doesn't put the curse on him before he can do it.








Liquibet: TeamLiquid's very own system where users guess the winner to earn points. Highly susceptible to "voting from the heart syndrome."

GomTV Poll: A poll on GomTV's Korean website where fans can vote on who they think will win the match. No stakes.

PlayXP Toto: A virtual betting system run by the Korean community site PlayXP.com. PlayXP users can bet points on the players, while the odds on the players shift constantly to try attempt to draw equal betting on both sides. Odds listed below are in decimal format.

*Odds and numbers accurate as of September 4th 2PM EST.