Thanks to Ethan Ahn of www.leveltory.com for the front page photographs.

Results from Live Report Thread by Dodgin.
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Once and Future King?
– Mvp 3 – 1 PartinG

Things went as expected. LG-IMMvp looked to cheese for an answer, ST_PartinG was invincible once he had storm, and the three time champion was more collected than the first time semi-finalist. It all went as foreseen, except the final result. Mvp defeated PartinG by a score of 3 – 1, a result that can no longer be called an upset. Doubts followed Mvp around ever since his alarming decline towards the end of 2011, but now that he has reached his fifth GSL final, it seems ridiculous that his ability was ever in doubt. As Koreans are fond of saying, class is forever.

Mvp surprised viewers from the very first game, going for a very standard macro build on Entombed Valley, a map where PartinG and other Protoss players have had considerable success playing macro games. However, that didn't end up being a factor at all, as Mvp detected that PartinG was cutting too many corners while switching to templar tech after a colossus opening, and simply pulled his SCVs to attack with his infantry and medivacs at an opportune timing. The attack couldn't have gone better for Mvp, as he caught PartinG unwisely moving out on the map with his small army, and easily won the deciding engagement on wide open ground.

After showing an impromptu all-in in game one, Mvp came out with a very blatant all-in build on Ohana by deploying the infamous 1/1/1. Though it had been briefly left for dead, the legendary 1/1/1 was returned to its former glory in the hands of a defiant veteran.

PartinG put together the correct combination of units, and may have been able to break Mvp's slow push. However, just like the 1/1/1's of old, Mvp only needed to goad PartinG into making one mistake in order to take the game. PartinG positioned his troops incorrectly as he tried to bust Mvp's position, and his immortals were mowed down by marines, busting any chance he had of winning the game instead.

By the look on his face, it seemed that PartinG's spirit had broken under the weight of being two games down. Still, what would a PartinG PvT series be without a single game with devastating storms? The third game on Cloud Kingdom was PartinG at his best, going up safely to three bases, putting together a perfect combination of units, and running rampant over a powerless Terran army. In that moment, there was hope for PartinG, that he might be able to make his games, and the series, go long.

Unfortunately for PartinG, Mvp had no desire to repeat game three. In the final set on Metropolis, Mvp ended the game early with a simple four medivac drop. It was a perfectly ordinary four medivac drop at a perfectly ordinary timing, one that PartinG would have seen hundreds if not thousands of times. However, because of nerves, or perhaps because of Mvp's trickery, PartinG was unable to stop Mvp's dropships from unloading their deadly cargo inside his base. PartinG's troops ran to their death in small, weak clumps, unable to bring their full firepower to bear on Mvp's MMM. In a less than thrilling ending, that one drop was able to end the game and the series.

In the post match interview, Mvp said that he was fully confident in his ability to defeat PartinG in a long, maxed-out macro game. Opportunities to end the games early had merely presented themselves to him, and such speedy wins were not an integral part of his plan. His crushing loss in the longest game of the series runs contrary to his confidence, but at this point in time, it is meaningless to question him any longer. The King does as he pleases, and his word may as well be law.


Squirtle Used Skill! It's Super Effective!
– Squirtle 3 – 0 HerO

With a 3 – 0 victory over Liquid`HerO, ST_Squirtle improved to 14 – 1 in Code S Season Two and stepped one series closer to achieving the best run in GSL history. Already being the player with the best one month stretch in all competitions, Squirtle needs only a championship to make this run the stuff of legends. Squirtle also improved his GSL PvP record to 13 – 1, suggesting that he is the only one who actually understands the match-up, while the rest of us claiming that luck plays a significant role could stand to play a few thousand more games.

Though the score said 3 – 0, the content of the games showed that HerO wasn't completely overwhelmed. The first set on Daybreak resembled a game of high-speed chess, with HerO blocking Squirtle's DT's, then going for DT's of his own, and Squirtle holding those off with timely robotics tech. Squirtle ended up making the winning move, choosing to go for a chargelot + archon combination while HerO was securing his natural with an immortal based composition. HerO's forces was horribly outmatched in terms of cost efficiency, and Squirtle was able to take the first game.

HerO nearly struck back in game two, where Squirtle was uncharacteristically sloppy in applying early game pressure, and seemed like he would surely lose to HerO's 4-gate prism counter-attack. However, HerO choose an unwise plan of attack, ferrying troops up four at a time with his warp-prism while Squirtle continued to force-field the ramp. This allowed Squirtle to eliminate HerO's troops four at a time, and by the time he ran out of force-fields, he had accumulated just enough troops to fend off the remainder of HerO's army.

Having expended so much money on his attack, HerO took a risk by going for a fast expansion to try and make up for his disadvantage. It was to no avail, as Squirtle made the correct move by attacking once he had a colossus to break down force-fields, and HerO was forced to GG out after vainly attempting a base trade.

The final game was surprisingly one-sided, and served as the example of 'lucky' PvP many had expected. HerO went for blink stalkers and a relatively fast expansion, whereas Squirtle scouted out HerO's plan with an elusive probe and decided to go for DTs. HerO never had a chance of beating Squirtle's strategy, but it didn't help that he exacerbated the situation with a flubbed force-field on his ramp, a mistake that was too easy to see as a result of the pressure breaking his composure. HerO GG'd out, and Squirtle confirmed his place in the finals.

After the match, Squirtle seemed as determined as ever to win one more series and take home a championship. Squirtle may not know what he has to gain (an ID change, he considered), but having felt the pain of falling just short of a championship at IPL4, he at least knows what he has to lose.


Game of the night: Squirtle vs HerO, Game One

While the stories behind Mvp and Squirtle are some of the most compelling we've seen in the GSL, their semi-final series were on the dull side. Mvp's series consisted of fairly one-sided games, while Squirtle's games were not the most suspenseful. Squirtle and HerO's first game on Daybreak was probably the most well played game of the night, where you could see two players planning and executing on a high level.

LG-IMMvp

How do you feel about reaching the finals?

Mvp: Honestly I thought it would be very tough, everyone's having a hard time playing TvP. I felt that it was hard as I practiced, so I'm happy to make it to the finals. It feels like it's my first finals in a long time, so I'm looking forward to it.

This is your fifth finals. Does it feel any different to you?

More than it being my fifth final, it's very meaningful to me that it's my first final in the 2012 season. I've been doing poorly this year, not able to reach a final, so I'm very happy to reach a GSL final.

You're in poor condition these days, even traveling to foreign tournaments. How does that affect you?

Honestly, my condition is always bad, so that's not even really on my mind anymore. It's been a while since my condition has been bad, 6 months to a year. Though I won today, I wasn't happy with my play. I think that's because of my bad condition, but there's nothing I can do about health problems.

PartinG has been known as a Terran killer lately, and people thought you would have a hard time against him. How did you prepare for PartinG?

I didn't really prepare specific strategies for him, I just came thinking I would do whatever. It wasn't so much preparation, more that I would do whatever I wanted once I was here, and that worked out well.

PartinG's been very good at stopping Terran attacks that are aimed at hurting him before he puts together his composition. You did a good job at breaking his defenses today, how did you do it?

In the past, PartinG held off the attacks and won all of his games, but I think the reason I was able to win today was because PartinG was overconfident. From the RO8, he kept saying if I was his semi-final opponent, he felt he would go to the finals. From then, I knew I would win. If a one has too much confidence, there's a tendency to topple oneself. I think that factored in too heavily, and I won easily.

This is a rare occurrence, but you actually had the support of the fans this time around, from people who wanted you to stop a PvP final. How do you feel about being in that situation?

Yes, a PvP would have been as successful, and it wouldn't have been as fun, so a lot of people wanted me to win. But for me, I had a lot of personal ambition to make it to the finals, so I tried that much harder, and I don't think that kind of public support really affected me, I just wanted it badly for myself.

You're going to face the winner of Squirtle or HerO. Who do you prefer to face?

Both players have difficult styles to play against, so I wouldn't like either player. But I know Squirtle personally, while barely know HerO at all. Also, I've lost to Squirtle once in the GSTL finals, so I think it will be fun to play against him like that.

The finals is at AX Korea, does that mean anything special to you?

It's very close to my house, so I think it will help me manage my condition. Also, it's a place where I've won one championship, so I have confidence I can win there again.

You pulled SCVs for an attack in game one today. What did you see that triggered that attack?

PartinG had a lot fewer troops than I expected, so I felt that if I attacked together with SCVs, I could win. I scanned and checked his troops, and decided on the attack.

You used a 1/1/1 in the second game. Did you use it because you thought it was a good build on Ohana, or was it just an on the fly move?

Honestly, I didn't come with a fixed strategy for game two. So I didn't really know what I would do, but after I won the first game, I felt that if I could win the second game with a 1/1/1, it would make PartinG crumble mentally. So I used the strategy, and it worked, and I was able to play the remaining games more easily.

You used standard macro builds in three of your games, even though PartinG has famously not lost games that go over 25 minutes. Were you confident in your ability to win long games?

I had full confidence in my ability to win in long games. I lost game three because my troops were cut off, but I think if that didn't happen, I would have won the game. In game three, because I was winning 2 – 0, I think I was a little bit careless, and sloppy troop movements let part of my army get cut off.

No one has won four GSLs. Do you think you can do it?

It's something I want very much, but I've been on a decline lately. So instead of thinking about the four titles, so I want to prepare with a focus on winning this one series ahead of me. If I start thinking about four titles, might start getting nervous and not be able to play up to my skill, so I want to play in calm setting.

Every season you made it to the finals before, you looked extremely strong on the way there. This season, you've been in danger, and not all so stable. How were you able to squeeze through?

This is something I always feel, and this is something that other players feel as well. Some guys, they're just gonna succeed. I think that kind of thing exists. Some days, everything goes your way, and sometimes nothing works out. Like the last season, I lost in the RO16, and that was one of those days where nothing worked. But this season, it's one that everything works out, everything goes well no matter what I do.

On a different topic, existing BW teams are going to be switching to SC II. Fans are excited about this, talking about what would happen if Flash played Mvp in SC2... What are your feelings on this situation?

I think it will be fun to play Flash.

But recently, I've read a lot of articles on SC2 transition and the hybrid Proleague, a format where if you play in one game, you have to play the other game the next time you're up. That, honestly, I think from the perspective of an SC1 pro-gamer, it will be extremely hard. When I first started SC2, I sometimes played a few games of SC1. But really, the interface, hotkeys, etc. are so different. So my skill level really fell a lot in SC1. But the current SC1 players will have to practice for both games, so it will be really hard, so I'm disappointed about that. I think it was too much of a selfish, top-down decision without thinking about the players, so I think it's a bad idea.

Any final comments?

Thanks to my teammates Seed, Yonghwa, Ready, Anyppi for helping me practice, and Oz, MC, and San from outside IM. Also, thanks to my mom, dad and sister who always cheer me on from home. My parents really want to see me on the finals stage, and I haven't been able to go to the finals much. I'm very proud that I was able to go to the finals this season.

Thanks to our head coach who's always working so hard.

Also, yesterday, Nestea was eliminated, but I believe that he will come up to Code S through the Up/Downs. I hope we can play in Code S together next season.

Finally, thanks to my girlfriend.


ST_Squirtle

It's your first Code S finals. How do you feel about getting there?

Squirtle: When I started the season, getting to the RO16 was my goal, but somehow I've come this far. It's like a dream.

You've always been good in GSTL, but you haven't been that successful or known in the GSL. What kind of meaning does this GSL have for you?

People have always said that I'm good in GSTL, but I've always lost in the GSL, and I had a kind of GSL phobia. But I always practiced hard, so I think that hard work is finally paying off.

You've been a pro-gamer for a long time. A lot of pros say that their goal is to reach the finals stage of an individual tournament.

Yes, the dream of every pro is to stand on that stage.

Every time I lost, that dream seemed to drift further away, and I thought 'It's not meant for me.' But because I didn't give up and kept working hard, I think it's paid off. The most important thing was to never give up.

You looked very emotional in the booth, what were you thinking after you won?

To be honest, like I said, thoughts of reaching the finals had been slowly disappearing from my mind. So when I knew that I reached the finals, it was truly as if a dream had come true.

This is the last step. Back in IPL4, you played something like 49 games and barely missed out on first place. How does that affect your mindset going into the finals?

At IPL, when I lost to aLive, I really felt how disappointing it is to lose in a finals. This time, I will practice very hard so I can win.

HerO was also on a hot streak lately, did you think you could win 3 – 0?

I thought that if I won the first game, I would win 3 – 0. If I lost the first game, it would be a tough series, and it would be 3 – 2 even if I won.

Looking at your record, you have an amazing PvP record. You've lost a couple of individual games, but you've never lost a series. What's your secret?

Honestly, I did want to keep my 100% record. Normally I don't care about stats, but since everyone kept talking about my PvP win rate being 100%. But to get such good results, it's not just myself who has to do well. The players on my team, Ace, NaNiwa, SaSe, and Tiger all helped me out, so that's why my Protoss vs Protoss is strong. It's not just my skill – I really received a lot of help.

Hypothetically speaking, would you have preferred PartinG over Mvp in the finals?

Honestly I would have wanted PartinG to reach the finals, but if you think about feeling comfortable in the finals, I prefer players from other teams. I really don't like team kills, so I feel a bit better than if it were PartinG,

You said yourself that PartinG is the best PvT player. But Mvp won today – how did you feel watching that?

Mvp's has won three championships, and he definitely has 'class.' You can tell at a glance that he is very good at planning for multi-game series.

But I think I have experience now, and I'm not behind him in my ability to strategize for series, so I think I'm full capable of winning.

Mvp has been in four finals, winning three and losing one. He's a very strong player in the finals. How are you going to prepare for factors outside of the game?

If I prepared myself, I would have been uncertain, and there's a big experience gap in playing on the finals stage. But I believe in the Protoss players on my team, and I think if we all practice together, I'll be able to win.

Bomber is also on your team. How does he help you?

In the Startale house, he's the player I've talked with the most. We share the same room, and I talk with him the most about the game.

Do you have any inclination to change your ID if you win? To something more evolved?

Yes, I'm thinking about. If I win....

Turtle King? (Blastoise)

Yes, maybe.

So you're Wartortle now?

Yes, because I haven't won a championship.

What do your parents think about your run?

My parents always tell me to relax before my games, and that it's not the end even if I a lose a game. I've made them wait too long now, from the days I was a SC1 progamer. I kept telling them I could reach a final, though I was really hurting inside. Now that I'm there for real, and they are coming to watch me, I will win no matter what.

You mentioned you want to use a mothership in the finals...

Fans still remember the game from the GSTL finals, so I want to play a game that's even greater than that, not just win the series. I want to show them games that are fit for the finals. But I don't think I'll be able to get a mothership out against a player of Mvp's caliber.

Any final comments?

Thanks to our sponsors Joygear, Red Bull, and BenQ.

When I was preparing for TaeJa, I asked NaNiwa for a lot of advice. But he was a bit miffed that I didn't mention him in the interview after I won. So I want to tell him I'm really thankful, and also to SaSe who helped me a lot for this match.

Also, Tiger played over 200 games with me, so I'm really, really thankful to him. Finally, Ace helped me practice until 4AM on the last day, so I'm thankful to everyone.