History

It's the basis of many a classic tale: Two men living strangely parallel, connected, but contrasting lives.

Park Soo Ho and Moon Sung Won both came to prominence in the GSTL, playing crucial roles as their team's respective Ace players. However, MMA's position was that of a more traditional Starcraft Ace, the closer who came in to secure the win in a tight series. DongRaeGu, on the other hand, was MVP's everything, sometimes forced to play the role of a starter, mid-relief, and closer by winning all of his team's sets.

The two first met in May of 2011, during the finals of GSTL Season III, in the final set of an incredible nine game series. In an intense and close game, MMA squeezed out a narrow victory to capture the championship for his team. It was lauded as one of the great finals in Starcraft II's young history, and the two began to gain international notoriety.

Not long after, the two found themselves on another major stage: the GSL Super Tournament Finals. However, only one of them was playing in the Finals. MMA had made an impressive run through the tournament, further enhancing his reputation as one of the fastest rising players in the professional Starcraft II scene. DongRaeGu did not even qualify.

He had, however, torn through the LG Cinema Special Tournament, a lesser known competition with no less impressive players, that just so happened to share the same finals stage with the Super Tournament due to their sharing the same sponsor. Having lost the chance to be the star in the GSTL finals, DRG surrendered the spotlight to MMA once more, playing the undercard to MMA's main event. DRG defeated his opponent in five hard fought sets and won $10,000. MMA looked helpless as he lost in four straight sets and won $30,000.

At the same time, neither player was making much headway in the Code S tournament. MMA had made a few shots at the Code A tournament, to lose disappointingly each time. As for DRG, he had been mired in Code B for months, despite his reputation as one of the best Zerg players online. Still, lifelines would come.

The MLG/GSL league exchange program kicked in fully, with priceless Code S seeds finally available for the taking at all 2011 events beginning with MLG Anaheim. One month after MMA had been recognized as a rising star and invited to MLG Columbus, DRG's was acknowledged as well, receiving an invitation spot. As for MMA, he returned as the defending champion, sponsored by his team.

The two tore through the tournament, and landed top seeds in the championship bracket. Fatefully, the two would meet again in another high stakes match. As Mvp had secured a Code S spot for himself the next season, it would be passed down the next highest placing player. MMA and DRG duked it out not just for a right to progress in the tournament, but for the Code S spot they so valued. Once more, the gap between the two seemed paper thin. Once more, MMA was victorious.

MMA adjusted to life in Code S, and declined to compete again in the following MLG. He had attained Code S, now his goal was to win it. As for DRG, he made his way to MLG Raleigh, needing another chance after squandering the Code A seed earned at Anaheim. For the second time, victory eluded our second protagonist, but for once, luck was on his side. Despite an 3rd place finish, the two players above him already had Code S spots, dropping the single seed straight into DRG's lap.

In September, with both players landed in Code S, their paths began to separate. It turned out that neither of them ended up being that good at Code S, though they managed middle-tier finishes and retained their seeds.

Otherwise, they spent some time going their own ways. Having attained his goals at MLG, DRG traveled the world looking for easier money, winning respectable purses at IEM New York and DreamHack Valencia. MMA made an uneventful appearance at MLG Orlando, and a minor splash at IPL3.

The first proper season of GSTL did not provide a dramatic rematch. SlayerS was knocked out in the group stages, largely due to indifferent performances from MMA. Even so, their fates still seemed intertwined in a peculiar way, as MMA's disappearing act affected DRG as well. After carrying his team in the group stages, DRG needed not make any appearances after the first round of the playoffs. His teammates played better than they had ever before, and won the championship without him.

Then, in October, MMA broke ahead again. After a few mediocre seasons in Code S, he finally made it the grand finals. Faced with a supposedly invincible Mvp, MMA used both smart strategies and solid overall play to secure his first GSL championship. In the meanwhile, DongRaeGu was knocked out in the group stages, left chasing his elusive, undeclared rival once more.

In this chronicling of the last seven months, I'm not suggesting that DRG has been unfairly denied anything MMA has earned – because in the end, it was the games that he lost, and MMA won, that determined these differences in their otherwise eerily similar careers. MMA has always been a step ahead of DongRaeGu in advancing as a pro-gamer, but at the same time DongRaeGu has always gotten what he deserves, even if he has been forced to wait a while.

The past suggests two things. MMA will be the first to climb a new moutain, taking the very first Blizzard Cup. Or, DongRaeGu is will get is long due in a GSL championship. Which thread of fate will prevail?


DongRaeGu vs Terran – International: 22 wins, 12 losses (64.71% win rate) – Korea: 22 wins, 11 losses (66.67% win rate)

THE best Zerg vs Terran player in the world, although Leenock has given him a stiff challenge as of late. DRG's ability to swat away all sorts of Terran harassment saw him rise above all others during the days of blue flame debauchery, and his flawless control of Muta-ling-ling armies has sustained his position at the top of the pack. No other Zerg can control the lair phase of a game so well, swallowing up Terran pushes and causing nightmares with insanely persistent Mutalisk harassment. The Hive stage remains a slight problem for DRG, as he can't seem to exert the same kind of dominance with Brood Lords and Ultralisks as he can with lair stage units. However, that appears to be a problem inherent in recent ZvT in general, and not a flaw in DRG's game.


MMA vs Zerg – International: 36 wins, 13 losses (73.47% win rate) – Korea: 13 wins, 2 losses (86.67% win rate)

THE best Terran vs Zerg player in the world, or at least equal to Mvp. Though he became famous for his insane multi-tasking and drop tactics that earned him a championship at MLG Columbus, he's adapted with the times and become a ridiculously good macro player as well. The lines between Terran players has become increasingly blurred, as everyone seems to be very adept at playing safe, defensive macro while constantly dropping at the same time. Even so, he's better at this style than just about everyone, and manages to be more aggressive without giving up any stability. The entire, flawless, TvZ package.


Head to head: DongRaeGu 4 – 3 MMA

& Maps: Crossfire – Tal'Darim Altar – Bel'Shir Beach – Dual Sight – Daybreak – Antiga Shipyard – Shakuras Plateau

During the TL interview, DongRaeGu mentioned that going standard versus standard against MMA was generally a bad idea. Or the way I interpreted it, "Reactor Hellions into triple Orbital Commands is f***ing bulls***." This isn't just idle complaining, as DRG took it upon himself to Roach-Bane bust MMA twice at MLG Providence, when the maps turned out to be XNC and Shakuras Plateau, the twin patron saints of Terran Macro abuse. Going back slightly further, FXOLucky also earned cheesy victories over MMA at IPL3, using Roach-ling busts to end the games before MMA could really get going.

There's definitely going to be an interesting strategic battle going on here, as MMA will have shored up the defenses on his greedy, macro builds, while DongRaeGu will try to think of some new variation of early attack that he thinks MMA won't be able to plan for.

However, DongRaeGu also mentioned there are some maps he definitely wouldn't mind playing standard on. The first four maps are stacked heavily in DRG's favor, all featuring long rush distances, difficult to take third bases, and a thousand plus one backdoor opportunities. On these maps, the tables might actually be turned, with MMA the one attempting some kind of early strategy. After seeing Mvp completely unable to play to his strengths due to the combined effort of the SlayerS house, DongRaeGu should be very concerned. Obviously, MMA won't have the same caliber Zerg opponents as he did for Terran, but the SlayerS Terran think-tank's powers won't be diminished. Even though he's a master of stopping Terran cheese, I'd be surprised if DRG didn't drop a map to MMA's tricks.

If it DOES go to a straight macro game, with both players opting to play standard, it seems to favor MMA. The heir apparent can just pressure appropriately without over extending himself, setting up a strong macro base from which he can roll over his opponent. DongRaeGu will have to be more aggressive than usual to defeat MMA, as his roll-with-the-punches style will only lead him to a loss in the super late game.

That said, I feel that it's unlikely we'll see too many of these straight macro fights. Sure, they haven't had the usual one week of preparation time, but all the hallmark GSL Finals over-preparation and over-thinking will happen nonetheless. With both players thinking hard about how to get an advantage without playing a regular game, the number of times they will want to play a normal game at the same time will be pretty low – though they'll be epic when they happen.

Outside of strategy, there's another thing that makes me curious. MMA has played in numerous big matches, but he's rarely had to play from behind. With four bad maps for him early, he could easily find himself down 3-1 or 3-1 at some point in the series. How might MMA cope with being in that position? The one time he was down 3-0, the series ended as a clean sweep. At the same time, this will be DongRaeGu's first GSL final. He's played games on the same stage of the finals before, but hasn't been in one himself. Is he going to keep his cool and bring his A game?


Prediction:

Damn, these maps. These two are fairly even matched, but the maps swing it in DRG's favor. He's probably going to get to three wins first, and from that point it will be incredibly hard for MMA to come back. Overall, I just don't see DongRaeGu having to play a straight up macro game against MMA on any of the Terran favored maps in this series. There's probably a cheese win a piece for both of these guys in the middle of all of this, and on a similar note, a cheese-fail loss for both of them as well. Unless MMA is so transcendentally good at TvZ that he can play straight up on four straight disadvantageous maps, the series rests on his, and his teammates' ability to come up with a winning game plan for the first four games.

DongRaeGu 4 – 2 MMA

Welcome, everyone who hasn't boycotted GOM! This is the second ever Junkka Awards, rewarding the best, worst, and funniest parts of the GSL. Our first Junkka Awards was six months ago, way back at the end of the GSL Super Tournament, where we crowned many new award winners. I still don't know if they got their cheap plastic trophies, but if they didn't, I'm going to blame Naniwa because that's what all the cool kids are doing these days.

Without further ado, let's begin our festivities with our first award of the evening!

All Junkka Awards were made from recycled Yu-Gi-Oh cards, John's passion and tin foil spray painted gold.

The "GrackFields420" Interviewee of Tournament Award

Winner: Polt

Runner-Up: MC, MVP

It's funny because it's true.

The "FruitDealer" Hair of Tournament Award

Winner: Naniwa

Runner-Up: MMA, Stephano

Let's go Sase!

The "ButterFlyEffect" Worst Player of the Tournament Award

Winner: Hero

Runner-Up: Naniwa, Nestea

HotBid told me they wanted to play macro games...

The "I GOT NERD CHILLS, TASTELESS!" Game of the Tournament Award

Winner: MVP vs. Polt, Game 4 on Calm Before the Storm

Runners-Up: MC vs. Leenock, Game 4 on Tal'Darim Altar LE and Leenock vs. Naniwa, Set 2 on Bel'Shir Beach Winter

GOMTvT coming at you at full force.

The "Roar" Song of the Tournament Award

Winner: Nemesea - Lost Inside

Runners-Up: Rolling in the Deep - Go Radio

More of these intro videos, please

The "Code A Season 1" Worst Game of the Tournament Award

Winner: Nestea vs. Naniwa, Set 9 on Antiga Shipyard

Runners-Up: DongRaeGu vs. Hero, Set 8 on Shakuras Plateau

If he only microed those probes...

The "Free Coca" This Strategy Is Gonna Get You Banned From GSL Tournament Award

Winner: MC

Runners-Up: Naniwa

Wait, going mass Carrier and throwing in Motherships didn't win me the game?

The "ManZenith" Surprise of the Tournament Award

Winner: Stephano

Runners-Up: MC, Polt

The Pink Ranger did the foreigners well in the Blizzard Cup

The "Lee Young-Ho" Player of the Tournament Award

Winner: MMA

Runners-Up: DongRaeGu

8-1 is a pretty good record, don't you think?

Game One – Antiga Shipyard : A slaughter. DRG demonstrated how to play modern ZvP, doing multiple tech switches that always caught MC off guard, while staying safe against any kind of pressure. The mobility of Muta-ling allowed DRG to perform one critical backdoor attack in the mid-game which gave him a solid economic lead, and from there on out he just built on his advantage until victory was assured.

Game Two – Shakuras Plateau : I didn't expect MC to be able to use the same tactics against DRG as he did against Leenock, but the President did his research and earned his rewards. He used another two-base timing attack, but tinkered with it so that DRG wasn't completely ready in time. DRG tried to surround MC's army with his Roaches and Drones, but it was useless against MC's impeccable force-fields and Stalker micro.

Game Three – Dual Sight : Once more, MC brought a variation of a two-base Stalker all-in that DRG was just not prepared for. Though MC had failed with a similar tactic on the very same map at MLG, this time around he found that weak timing he needed to hit, and took a relatively easy victory.

Game Four – Calm Before the Storm [b]?????: Though DRG's teammate Genius made the Carrier strategy work on Calm Before the Storm, MC made it look completely ineffective against DRG. All DRG had to do once he scouted the strategy was make Corruptors, and the game was effectively over. Even so, an amusing game with some entertainment value due to MC's weird strategy choice.

Game Five – Crossfire : The game resembled their earlier meeting on the same map during the group stage. The game came down to a base race scenario where DRG used mass spine-crawlers to his great advantage. DRG wrecked MC's econ with a Roach counter while MC wasted a lot of time clearing spines in the middle. By the time he arrived at DRG's base, DRG had pulled his attacking forces and combined them with newly created forced to perform a deadly flank to take the series.

This series, for the most part, was an affirmation of things we knew. MC was deadly with his two-base timing attacks, and particularly good at microing Sentries and Stalkers against Roaches. DongRaeGu was excellent at executing tactics that abused Zerg mobility to its fullest, capable of defeating Protoss by avoiding direct engagements for as long as possible. And of course, Carriers were crap.

The one surprise though, was that MC tweaked his timing attacks to be useful again. It had seemed earlier this year that his timings had been been totally figured out, but MC showed he had the creativity to make them work again. Early attacks from MC will always be deadly, given his amazing micro.

Being one match away from eliminating a top Zerg player to get into the finals was more than I expected from MC, and he should be a dangerous opponent in the group stages of Code S next year. However, a recent lack of strong late-game performances against Zerg is a little worrisome, and that will probably be something he looks improve in particular in the months before Code S January.

Game 1 – Calm Before the Storm : First off, I have to say how much I love this map. Calm Before the Storm has produced entertaining game after entertaining game. With its free natural in the back and the wide open spaces, you're either going to see a long, macro-style game that makes both players try to control the gigantic landscape with their armies, or you will see some new cheese strategies you've never seen before to abuse the players who always play super greedy on the map.

This game was no different. MMA and MVP both went a tank-marine style, and for the second time in two days, when going the same tank-marine style as his adversary, MVP looked worse doing it. MMA got the better of the engagements, was dropping better, and was able to camp inside MVP's base, killing all reinforcements and destroying the army buildings.

The game effectively ended when MVP decided to take out one of MMA's expansions while the Son of Boxer went for a killing counter attack, taking out everything in MVP's main. MVP made the wrong choice of trading a third base for his main and it put him too far behind to come back. An entertaining opening match and looked like a start to a great series...

Yeah, that didn't last long.

Game 1 – Bel'Shir Beach Winter: In short, MMA went for an all or nothing rush with an early marine attack. MVP, who could have more than likely easily held it and tied the series up, placed his army in the wrong direction, left his depots down, and invited MMA's marine contingent to flood into the base, destroying all reinforcements and killing the small force of MVP's marines before ending the match by massacring the remaining SCV's. If you're a fan of MMA or Slayers, you might love this game. If not, you would be better to just skip it.

Game Three – Shakuras Plateau 2.0: : MVP's mind was clear for this game. He was going to play a long, macro-orientated game that led into him destroying MMA with his heavy mech army, proving that if he goes mech, he can beat anyone. The only problem was that MMA was tired, wanted to get home early that night to catch his favorite Korean drama, and hit a sick timing attack to finish the series before MVP could even get started. MMA was inside MVP's head, was able to catch him off guard, and was able to blank the King of Terran with a clean sweep.

If you're looking for a great TvT series, don't watch this one. Go watch Polt vs. MVP the day before. This series was MMA, showing once again, that he knows how to get into MVP's head. He knows what to do to get the Game Genie Terran rattled and go for the kill. I said going into this series that MMA would have to use his resources well, getting specialized builds from his arsenal of Terran teammates to win, and he did just that.

MMA just played better. You will get a lot of fans mad at MMA for cheesing or not going for the longer, macro games, but why would he? MMA wants to win. He won game the first game by showing he can beat MVP in a straight-up game, showing that his marine-tank was better in that set. After that, he did something that MVP didn't expect, a cheese, gaining himself an easy second victory and putting himself in a prime position to move on.

Just like the man he wants to become, MMA only knows how to do one thing: Win. He will do whatever it takes, inside the game, to win. If it was possible for a six SCV rush to win a game, MMA would do it in a heart beat if his opponent wouldn't expect it. That is one of the strengths that puts MMA above a lot of others; he not only has some of the best mechanics in the world, but he also has the best training partners a Terran could ask for. He has Boxer, a build genius, to bounce ideas back and forth. He has Ryung, an excellent TvT specialist to practice with. That's not even counting Clide, Ganzi, Taeja, Lots and the rest of the Terrans that Boxer's team possesses.

Prediction: MVP 3 - 1 MMA