EPTRo32: Day One Preview
*Elephants trumpet in the background*
GomTV vs. KeSPA. Ever since the copyright row between Blizzard and KeSPA and the formation of GomTV's oddly parallel but decidedly different pro-gaming scene in Korea, this is the collision of worlds everyone has been waiting for. Not ready at MLG Anaheim, the KeSPA players were wisely separated from their more experienced pro-gamer brethren. Are they ready now?
by Fionn and Waxangel
LG-IM HoRRoR vs. SlayerS_MiyaIn an odd twist of fate, the two least known, least successful players in the entire WCS Korea tournament are facing each other in the first round. Between the two players, they share one GSL appearance (Miya in Code A) and zero wins.
While a first round Code A duel between two such players would be utterly skippable, the fact that it is a WCS match makes it a little bit more interesting. The difficulty of Code A qualifiers has gone down a bit as all the better players filtered up over the course of two years of GSL, but the WCS Korea qualifier included many top Code S opponents.
For Horror, he had to defeat
MarineKingPrime, the player who received the top seed in his qualifier group. In a shocking upset, Horror managed to beat MKP by a 2 – 1 score, and then went on to defeat far less formidable opponents in 
Shuttle and FXOasd to complete his passage.Miya was far luckier, defeating primarily unknown opponents until he faced KeSPA pro
Snow in the final round. Snow had already defeated NesTea 2 – 0 on his way up, but Miya avenged his non-KeSPA brethren by defeating Snow 2 – 0 to confirm his ticket to the WCS nationals.Another factor that makes this more interesting than a similar Code A match is that there's a big emotional investment factor, due this being a massive opportunity for both players. In Code A you might see the loser laugh and give a "well I gave it my best" shrug, but this match could be more like the Up/Downs where players slump over in utter despair as they rue missing the one chance to validate their life choice for the last few years.
Oh, yes, a prediction. Miya is rated pretty highly by SlayerS internally, but is always disappointing when he has to play in broadcast games. On the other hand, Horror is barely talked about at all, and has no experience playing broadcast games. Oddly enough, this favors Horror. We know that Miya chokes horribly when the cameras are on him, but at least there's the possibility that Horror will be a natural on TV.
Prediction: Horror 2 – 1 Miya
SKT1_By.Sun vs. ST_CuriousNo, it's not
Flash, Bisu, or Jaedong (more about him later) that will take the historic step in being the first KESPA player to play SC2 in the GOM Studios. It's By.Sun, potentially the strongest of the KeSPA Seven that will bravely travel to Mokdong for the first major broadcast tournament between the two factions of Korean Starcraft II.While By.Sun might be the strongest of his group heading into this event, he won't have an easy first round. Instead of getting a chance to roll over a GOM player on the fringe of Code A or wallowing in Code B, he got one of the most consistent players in Code S. Heading into his fifth straight Code S season since qualifying from Code A in October, Startale's Curious is still searching for his career defining moment.
He has been able to get back into Code S time and time again, but has had to do it by either re-qualifying out of Code A or the Up-and-Down matches. He has never been able to make the quarterfinals of Code S and cement himself as a top tier player with the ability to win it all. Sure, he has shown glimpses here and there of being a player who can contend to be one of the best Zergs in the word, but he just hasn't been able to break through.
A deep run in WCS Korea would be a big stepping stone in his career and give the fans a reason to believe he's more than another run-of-the-mill Zerg. For By.Sun, a single series victory against Curious would put him on the map right away. If he can be the first of the KeSPA Seven to play his match, win it against a Code S mainstay and get into the second round, he'll be hyped into the ionosphere.
Frankly, Curious is the heavy favorite here, and we all know it. It would be fun to look at By.Sun's high Korean ELO, talk up how he has been excellent so far in PvZ for SKT1 in Proleague and act like that he could beat Curious in his worst match-up, but Curious plays on a whole different level from the Proleague. KeSPA players have had some success in prelims for WCG and WCS, taking games and even series from top players, but this is truly the first big tournament between the two sides.
Curious will have known for a week that his opponent is By.Sun, studied his games and know what he is getting into. A victory for By.Sun would be historic and start a lot of chatter about four legged gray animals, but Curious should be able to dispatch the KeSPA player and continue his record of getting out of the first round in GomTV broadcasted tournaments.
Prediction: Curious 2 - 0 By.Sun
ST_PartinG vs MVP.sCForget actual gameplay, there's plenty of reason outside of Starcraft II that you'd want to see either of these guys advance.
One part of PartinG's reputation that only gets glossed over by the international community is that he is an insolent loudmouth – and I mean that in the best way possible. From talking about being the best Protoss in the world when he was only in the GSL Ro8 to saying he didn't lose to Mvp because of 'skill,' he's full of adorable statements that would be annoying coming from any other player. Somehow, it's all quite tolerable and amusing when it comes from PartinG. Continued success for PartinG means continued entertainment for the fans, and now that he's even started making homages to Keen by copying his flamboyant victory celebrations, it's hard not to root for the young Protoss.
sC is easy to root for for an entirely different reason. Debuting when he was just fifteen, he's a member of the new generation of pro-gamers who are playing Starcraft II as their first game, and tearing up the scene in the process. Well, sC was tearing things up until the summer of 2011, when health issues set him on the path to a slow decline. Suffering from a chronic collapsed lung, sC fell off after reaching the semi-finals in Code S May. Though he had a surprise rebound performance in Code S November, he was unable to mount a comeback and is currently languishing in Code B. sC was almost a championship level player at his peak, and it was a shame to see poor health ruin his upward progress. After falling out of the public eye for the most part, WCS be a great opportunity for sC to show people what he can do.
Objectively, PartinG is massively favored here. PartinG has been both overrated and underrated at times, but the one constant for him has been his monstrous PvT. Only top TvP players like
MKP or TaeJa can fight on even terms, and sC is a long way off from being on that level. sC was at his best when he could dominate players with superior macro, but most players have caught up by this point. Without the finesse or multi-tasking to prevent PartinG from using his "defend until I have enough templar to storm everything" strategy, sC is in for a very difficult battle.Prediction: PartinG 2 – 0 sC
T8_Jaedong vs. FnaticRC aLiveIn the history of GOM, has there ever been a more anticipated debut? Finally, after two plus years of wondering what it would be like to see Jaedong in the GSL studios, you'll get your chance tonight. Now even with his own GOMTV player profile, Jaedong is officially stepping out of his home at OGN and taking on possibly the hardest challenge of his career. After years of being considered one of the greatest players to ever play Brood War, he will - for maybe the first time since he was a rookie - be entering the first round of a Starcraft tournament as the underdog.
Fact: Jaedong, in the past two months, has raised his play to new levels. At the start of the hybrid Proleague, Jaedong looked lost when it came to decision making. You could tell that the mechanics and brilliance was there, but then he would panic and head straight into a game losing base race that he possibly couldn't win. Then, ever since former GSL player Cezanne took the reigns over at Team 8 as their Starcraft 2 coach, they've been by far the best team in the competition.
With eight straight victories and Jaedong going 6-2 in his last eight games, they are atop of the standings and making a strong case to any sponsor out there that they are the cream of the crop when it comes to KeSPA Starcraft 2 squads. His decision making has improved, his mechanics are shining through, and he is among the best KeSPA has to offer when it comes to SC2.
Fiction: Jaedong is now Code S level and can compete with the DRG's and Nestea's of the world. Calm down, people. We can all see that he is improving at a pace that many people thought was impossible, but he's still a long way from being considered even a top ten Zerg in the world. He has shown that he can beat KESPA players and be clutch for his team in the Proleague, but this will be his first venture in going up against a GOM player.
Similar to By.Sun, if Jaedong was facing a
HoRRoR or dreamertt, you could make a strong argument that with his experience combined with his improving skills give him a good chance of advancing. However, instead of getting a Code B player or someone much less experienced, he has to go up against the IPL4 champion and one of the strongest Terrans in the world, Fnatic RC's Alive.Alive, fittingly in his role as one of the most overlooked players in the world even after winning IPL4, might look more like a litmus test for Jaedong than a WCS championship contender in the eyes of most viewers. In the first Code S season of the year, when he was at his peak, Alive was in the semifinals and starting to gain the aura of one of the best players in the world. Then, like with a lot of players, he started going to too many foreign tournaments, had his GSL results slip, and is now going to have to scrape through the Up-and-Down matches to get back into Code S.
Even with his current struggles, he is a very strong opponent. With him not playing in any tournaments lately and being eliminated earlier than expected in Code S, he has had a lot of time to practice in Korea and get ready for this match. His TvZ hasn't been his strongest match-up in 2012, but with two big victories over Miya and Coca in the recent GSTL, he should have confidence going up against Jaedong.
Simply put, this is something you don't want to miss. It's a pioneering moment for Jaedong, as he trail-blazes the way for KeSPA players in the GomTV studio. A win for Alive would be good to prove that he is still one of the better Terran players in Korea, but a victory for Jaedong would be remembered as a historic moment for years to come. Again, it's not likely that Jaedong will be able to pull out a victory against his much more SC2 experienced, championship winning opponent, but throw in his inhuman improvements and his uncanny ability to perform at his best during the most high tension moments, and you can't say for sure he'll lose.
Right? It's Jaedong we're talking about here. Out of the KeSPA Seven, if there is one that can find a way, it has to be the Tyrant.
Prediction: Alive 2 - 1 Jaedong
