EPT
On the one hand was SKTelecom. Sponsored with one of the most lucrative endorsement deals around and led by the most recognized SC player on earth, this team has done it all. They won the first Proleague against their rivals KTF, and had rolled through that same lineup again on the way to the finals. They haven't missed a beat, and going into the final match they were heavily favoured to take it all. Here is a look at their roster available for today:
- Manager: Some scary looking dude in a black pinstriped suit and sunglasses, who totes a baseball bat in his back pocket.
- Boxer, T, Team Leader
- Iloveoov, T
- Midas, T
- Canata, T
- GoRush, Z
- Mumyung, Z
- Rumble, Z
- Spirit-AmoniA-, Z
- Kingdom, P
- Rainbow, P
The only thing standing in the way of SKTelecom was Samsung Khan. Samsung is a sponsor that all gamers should recognize and hold high respect for. Samsung is the principle sponsor of the World Cyber Games, and one of the biggest electronics firms in the world. Obviously they have the pockets to match SK or KTF's spending style with ease. However, their lineup is filled not with veterans of past glory, but hungry youngsters who have not yet been caught up in the glitz of the top tier. Their lineup is the new generation, and they showed that by dominating two more established teams on their way to the finals. Both GO and KTF fell to Khan, and now they were looking to rock one of the best teams in BW. Here is a look at their roster:
- Manager: Definitely not the norm, former female gamer January heads up this Khan team.
- Jju, Z, Team Leader
- Doggi, T
- CuteBoy, T
- SaferZerg, Z
- Zergman, Z
- ZergLee, Z
- Jihyun, Z
- Ggon, P (race picker)
- Ever, P
- Stork, P
A quick reminder of the format. This is a best of 7 series with no team coming into today’s action with a lead. The games alternate between 1v1's and 2v2's, with a possible total of 4 1v1's and 3 2v2's. A player may only play in one single player matchup, but any player can play in the 2v2 with no limit on the number of times. The lineups for each team must be decided beforehand and submitted by the coach, with only the final and deciding game being a mystery. If needed, the coaches make the decision from the available players on their roster, and the team "ace" is sent to play.
Disclaimer: I am an amateur writer writing on a voluntary basis for this website. The series I am about to write on far surpasses my literary ability. To truely appreciate what you are about to read, I suggest you DL the games. I will do my best, but sometimes an event occurs which is simply beyond mere description. This is one of them.
ProLeague Final: SK_Telecom vs Samsung Khan
Game 1: GoRush (SK1, Zerg) vs Stork (Khan, P) on Requiem
GoRush was first to step up for SK1, after having lots of practice time after his early OSL departure. He truely is a feared zerg, able to dominate any opponent on any given day. Khan also came out swinging, sending out their new era protoss, Stork. An ascendant of the touted [gm] clan, Stork is one of the three new "hopes of Protoss", a new generation gamer that has shown strong skills.
Game one opened on Requiem, a map that has been around for a long time. GoRush spawned at three and sent his overlord in the right direction towards twelve. Stork opened with a pylon at his natural, followed by a forge as GoRush put down a pool after his second overlord popped. A couple cannons quickly sealed of any easy route to the protoss main, and as a Nexus began to warp in, GoRush started his lair. The zerg had expanded, but looked focused on trying to gain a tech advantage rather than out expanding his early nexus opponent.
The early action opened with Stork sending his first three zealots down to GoRush's natural. GoRush had cheated on the defense, and paid for it as he had only one sunken and a couple lings. Trying to prevent the zealots from entering his main to see his dual tech, he sent his drones to block the ramp where four of them were promptly destroyed. A major setback early in the game for a zerg that was already behind economically. Stork followed up his ground offensive with sairs, and GoRush chased them around the map with scourge. Despite his best efforts, one hero sair managed to outrun the scourge and scout the new expansion at 6 before returning to base.
Stork was running strong at this point, with double stargates and double robo. His sairs ran the skies with little trouble, finding GoRushs expansions at 6 and allowing him to drop another nexus at the 11 geyser spot. His opponent was not idle though. An intricate network of burrowed lings and hydralisks showed GoRush great portions of the map, allowing him to hide his overlords in a safe place, away from the great wing of corsairs that still swooped through the skies. Still though, neither player was willing to make a move, as Stork took the top of the map, and GoRush took the bottom. Both players were readying their armies for the massive battle to come: hydra/devourer/scourge/defiler for GoRush, vs four gate air for Stork, who by now had at least 30 sairs.
Fast forward 10 minutes. Not much had changed, except that every expansion on the map had a building by it, and the armies are as big as they are going to get. Both players had to be maxed, and the investments in static defense was extreme. The protoss now had carriers, while the zerg had queens. Finally an excuse to use all those pretty units occured, as Stork cannoned the nine o'clock natural. The fight that reigned was epic, with storms frying hydras who were hiding under swarms. Those HT were broodlinged, but the cannons were holding due to mass dweb. You get what I am saying here? Everything was being used, every spell from parasites to storms to plagues. In the end, the hatchery survived, half the cannons survived, and both players were still maxed with minerals that were endless. Everything was upgraded, and this game was becoming the ultimate sandbox war.
The battle was waged at the same spot continuously, with neither player able to make an inroad. The Protoss air was too strong, but the zerg spell casting was sublime. Even if either player could strike, where would they go? Killing expansions was like swatting a fly on a corpse as both players were loaded. Finally though, the battle shifted to the zerg main. The Protoss air took apart the base, and most of GoRush's devourers were lost to the incredible force of 30 maxed sairs. If only GoRush could escape the endless dwebs, his hydras would rip apart the carriers as they were all in the red due to plague. However, Stork gave no quarter, and the game remained at a stalemate as GoRush spawned a GIANT new batch of devourers. Combined with a killer plague that hit almost every sair, these new mass of devourers helped GoRush turn back Stork.
Mineral lines were getting thin, much more so for Stork than GoRush. Stork again tried to push his carriers towards 9, and this resulted in one of the biggest air battles ever seen on BW tv. Dozens of devourers and queens took on dozens of sairs and carriers backed by ht, only to once again end up in a draw. With his time and minerals running grossly short, Stork needed a more cost effective measure to bring down the zerg airforce. Cue Dark Archon and ht shuttle combo. With the commentators already hoarse and delirious with excitement, Stork started the process of freezing and frying devourers to even the field. He continued to push south with his carriers, relying less on sairs and more on ground spell casters. GoRush meanwhile was still exclusively making queens and devourers, with a few defilers and lings in the mix. However, Stork misjudged only once, and GoRush made him pay. After having his ht broodlinged, his carriers could not get back to the safety of 9 o'clock in time, and GoRush's full weight came down as 40 devourers ripped apart the blimps, popping them one after another. A Maelstrom saved him from from total destruction, but Stork had few funds to replace his losses.
GoRush then went on the offensive, and ruthlessly hunted down the carriers regardless of the protoss defenses. Well, he may have wanted to pay attention because Stork laid the greatest maelstrom in the history of starcraft, catching over a dozen devourers plus mutas overtop of a field of cannons. The casualties were massive, but GoRush still had the money to recover. As both players reached the end of their money chain, they switched to land forces for the first time. With his gas income, Stork was producing archons, while GoRush could do no wrong with ultralisks. However, despite his best efforts, GoRush could not crack the protoss spell defnse at his last remaining minerals, being denied by maelstrom, storm, cannon, and straight up protoss balls.
Down to the wire now, and it was the remnants of Storks air and a legion of archons and spell units (plus dt's and reavers) versus GoRush's ultra/dev/guard/queen/kitchen sink combo. They finally met in the middle of the map, and the archons began to prove their mettle. With +3 shields, they tore apart everything they touched, and Stork went on the march. His army was varied and unbelievable, and as he marched to the zerg main once more, everything he faced was maelstromed and systematically destroyed. GoRush could not make a single unit capable of defeating Stork, and had to resort to counter attacking. However, GoRush had nothing to attack, just cannons defending meaningless buildings. Stork's strength was in his army, and his army could not be defeated. Losing his last units, GoRush visibly slumped and typed gg, thus ending the greatest game of StarCraft I have ever seen.
Stork > GoRush
That's right, the greatest game I have ever seen. I am a professional SC observer. I have observed more games on bnet than I have played, I have watched endless hours of OGN tv, I have even spent my own money to travel to see it live. But, not a single game compares to what I witnessed Saturday night. It featured almost every unit, and almost every spell. The stamina that the two players showed, and the focus to keep it all in perspective, was astounding. Early in the game, it quickly spiraled out of proportion, with both players allowed essentially unlimited resources, and where strategy and thinking took precedent over multi-tasking. Stork eventually got that foothold at the nine o'clock expansion, and by taking over those minerals he was able to win the game. However, the battles around that expansion were mind boggling. While I thought Stork had blown it by losing those carriers to that huge devourer attack, he kept fighting and managed to come back. By the time he switched to the ground army, GoRush could not compete with the combination of spells and air, and his economy was sapped. Truely remarkable play by both players.
Khan 1:0 SK1
Game 2: Boxer/Kingdom (T/P SK1) vs Sigmari/Ever (Z/P Khan) on Iron Curtain
I almost don't want to, but let's continue. After that draining first game, SK1 needed its big guns to step up and deliver. There are no bigger guns than Boxer and Kingdom for a 2v2 duo. However, Sigmari and Ever have a lot of experience playing together, and have helped carry this Khan team through the tournament.
To start, SK (boxer at 5 and kingdom at 1) played a nice trick where kingdom cheated the mineral wall, and then bumped Boxer's scv through. What it meant is that Kingdom started building on Boxers side to make it a pvp vs Ever. In the meantime, Boxer began building a barracks to defend kingdom from Sigmari, while starting a factory on his own side to produce a double team on Ever. The communication was poor between the two though, as Kingdom missed Ever's first zealot which Boxer was forced to fight with only scv.
The SK1 team spent their time focusing on Ever, with Boxer sending tanks and Kingdom making zealots. But, Ever held them off with cannons and goons, and SK1's early gambit had failed. What was Sigmari (@7) doing this whole time? Well, he had managed to expand, and his spire was up just as SK failed to take out Ever. While Boxer and Kingdom spent a fortune to protect their bases from air, Sigmari was able to place a hatchery on either side of the middle wall as well. Ever came down the map with goons to attack Boxer, and the emperor had to fight with marines and scv. However, he had no answer for the next wave, and as Ever came in with his goons Boxer had to tap out. Not even waiting to make a stand, Kingdom followed.
Sigmari/Ever > Boxer/Kingdom
One sided rape this game, as SK1's cute strategy failed. Ever played them perfectly, going for a forge rather than a second gate and saving his base. Boxer last a lot of scv early to a single zealot, showing why you shouldn't rely on your friends for defense. Sigmari was maybe considered the weak link, but anybody on this stage can mass two dozen mutas if left alone, and he did just that, making the SK1 team pay for not watching him.
Khan 2:0 SK1
Game 3: Midas (SK1, T) vs Zergman (Khan, Z) on R-Point
How funny is this. The two players that played each other twice just the day before for the last seed in their OSL group are at it again. This time though, Zergman's team was at a big advantage, having taken the first two games from Midas' SK1 warriors. Midas would have to prove that his loss two weeks ago was far behind him to get his team back into the game.
As Midas (@1) scouted Zergman at 5 right away, his first marine came south, followed by a second rine and scv. Zergman was forced to fight with 6 early drones, and lost his goddamn mind, chasing the two rines halfway up the map only to lose three of them to superior micro. Midas, down no scv or rines, retreated to his base and had almost finished his academy. He then expanded while still having only one rax, as at 5 Zergman made the worlds worst sunken colony placements, ensuring only half of them would hit at a time.
With his income about to double, Midas ensured the minerals would find a good home as two ebays began cycling up. Zergman had both a den and a spire, but his ling harass was disastrous. Lurkers incubated at his natural as he took both 6 and 7, but Midas was not disturbed. His grunts ripped through everything Zergman put down, and with two scanners he had no problems with detection.
Zergman decided to make a play for guardians, but having to wait for the tech cost him dearly. Midas took his MM force through the 6 expo, and then over everything at the zerg natural. His drug fueled marines ripped up the zerg buildings, and in the blink of an eye it was over.
Midas > Zergman
Playing his supposed weakest match up, Midas showed the last couple days that he owns ZergMan. His timing was perfect, and after the early pressure his expansion ensured Zergman would have to take a risk to catch up. Zergman took that risk by double expanding, and Midas made him pay for it with perfect timing.
Khan 2:1 SK1
Game 4: Canata/Rumble (T/Z SK1) vs Cuteboy/Jihyun[joypop] (T/Z Khan) on Usan Nation
Two new players came out of the Khan stable, with CuteBoy being paired with Jihyun. For SK1, two of their junior rank players were about to play the game of their lives, as they tried pull SK1 even with Khan in a double mirror match up.
SK started with Canata at 5 and Rumble at 11, with Khan also having their zerg up top at 1 and Cuteboy down at 7. Players of the same race started with the same builds: pool/gas for zergs and rax/gas for the terrans. Somehow Jihyun lost his spawning pool, but he had his lair defended by two sunken colonies. However, Rumble came in with Canata in tow, and a vulture got in behind the zerg mineral lines, taking Sigmari out of the game for the time being.
Cuteboy had been busy working on three factory goliaths, but Rumble was playing like a man possessed, raiding with lings and pinning the terran to his base. Canata was again able to head north, and his own goliaths took Jihyun out for good. Cuteboy tried to counter the terran, but Canata held strong, and Rumble again raided the terran with his lings. With Jihyun eliminated, Cuteboy was fighting an uphill battle that he lost moments later. SK1 had struck right back after a disastrous opening to tie the series at 2:2.
Canata/Rumble > Cuteboy/Sigmari
Although the camera didn't show it, Jihyun must have lost his pool to a suicide ling raid by Rumble when the Khan zerg was trying to harass Canata. It was very odd because there was a sunken for defense, but after the pool was lost, it was more or less gg for khan, with Cuteboy facing a 2v1.
SK1 2:2 Khan
Game 5: Rainbow (SK1, P) vs GGon (Khan, P) on Forte
Rainbow warped in at 7, with GGon picking protoss and starting at 11. GGon is a race picker, so we will see how his choice fairs for him as this series is reduced to a best of three. Both players got gas after their first gate and scouted the wrong way. The game progressed at a snails pace, with both players content to build, both eventually coming up with two gate ranged goons and reaver tech.
As Rainbow placed an expansion first, GGon tried to make a play for mineral dropping his reavers with a frontal attack. However, Rainbow was wise to the move and was able to block both thrusts. Although this failed, GGon had shuttle speed much sooner than Rainbow, and was able to use this to harass the SK P. GGon attacked Rainbow again, this time head on with everything, and did well, killing Rainbows army. While he couldn't penetrate further into the base, he continued to harass, placing goons about Rainbows expo to cut its efficiency in half.
The battle for the cliff was waged with shuttles and goons, and Rainbow came out the victor. Once he held the cliff above GGon's nexus, GGon decided the time was right and again tried to attack the front lines of Rainbow with reaver/goon. With the advantage of his earlier expo, Rainbow had far more gates and the math was simple. His greater goons defended well, and his cliff goons had killed GGon's nexus. Rainbow expanded again, to 5, and took position outside GGon's choke. With GGon worried about his front, two reavers in his main reminded him of his ass, which was taken advantage of. Rainbow destroyed his probes, and then destroyed his army, smashing them apart simultaneously.
Rainbow > GGon
Rainbow stomped GGon hard. I though GGon had a chance early with his two pronged attack, if he had only waited for shuttle speed his reavers could have delivered their payload and outran the goons. However, Rainbow took over the platform over the expansions, and he who controls that controls the game in PvP.
SK1 3:2 Khan
Game 6: Kingdom/Rumble (P/Z SK1) vs Ever/Sigmari (P/Z Khan) on Iron Curtain
SK1 had come a long way back, and now they were trying to put the deathblow on Khan. Khan again sent out their 2v2 specialists, with Ever at 3 and Sigmari at 11. Kingdom (@5) was looking for revenge over game 2, but was with a new partner, Rumble (@9), who had been very impressive in the previous game.
Both zergs expanded and both protoss players took their gas after gate, so things were slow to begin with. Both zerg got their spire, while Ever started an archives after only one gate. Kingdom went much differently, laying down two stargates and prepping for sairs. As the zerg players ground their lings to dust against each other, Kingdom was in serious trouble. His cannon at his choke was not ready, and two dark templar were in his base with no overlord to be seen.
Rumble was doing good work, sending an overwhelming number of lings to run over Sigmari, but Kingdom was really out of it, having a pylon and 5 sairs due to dt death. Sigmari had a couple drones left, but Ever was the real beast, getting into the zerg base with his dt and reaping drones mercilessly. Rumble recovered as Ever had trouble bringing his army across the curtain, especially with kingdom harassing his shuttles.
Rumble managed to shut down Ever's almost finished main with some guards, but the protoss land army was looking scary running off two expansions. Rumble managed to cut off another line of minerals with a pair of lurkers behind the curtain, but the nexi were spreading with no zerg land army to stop it.
Finally Ever came out with a game breaker, as sairs from three gateways eliminated the threat from guardians. He also launched a devastating ht drop on the zerg natural. Dt's harassed every spot missing an overlord, and Rumble was unable to mount any offense. Anything he sent over the curtain was obliterated by the protoss land army, all of which was giving time for Ever to get carriers.
With carriers in the air and a large force of sairs, Ever went on tour and there was nothing Rumble could really do about it. His expansions fell one after the other, and he could never really get any kind of air force to counter it. He tried to make a stand with hydras, but dweb is the perfect counter for that. Finally Rumble had to type gg, and this was going to a seventh and final game.
Ever/Sigmari > Kingdom/Rumble
Kingdom really blew it this game early, and it was only another strong game by Rumble that had given them any chance at all. However, that map is not kind to zerg vs p 1v1, and Ever played really well to put it away.
SK1 3:3 Khan
Game 7: Ace game on Rush Hour
It all came down to this. Six hard fought games now meant nothing as the focus of both teams and the thousands of spectators were all focused on the last two players; Iloveoov for SK1, and Jju_Legend for Khan. Both of the managers had long since lost their poker faces, and the tension was evident as each stared intently at their monitors.
Oov opened the game at 7, while Jju spawned north of him at 11. Oov started aggressively, raxing before his depot and scouting in the right direction. When his scv reached the zerg ramp, it started a bunker which forced Jju to take half his drones offline to fight. His 12 hatch/pool build was looking very vulnerable early, as he tried to buy time for his pool to finish. With his excellent micro, he succeeded in preventing the bunker while losing no drones, only mining time. After the initial action, Jju dropped a third hatchery, while Oov started his academy and a second command center, using the same build Midas had in game 3.
Jju spent the next few minutes whoring drones from his three hatcheries before getting his lair, hydralisk den, and second gas. Oov managed some moderate success with his marine harass, but the middle stage of the game was entered with both players running strong. Lurker ling was coming fast for Jju as he got a fourth hatchery, and oov was rapidly advancing to cheater mode. The action picked up a notch when Jju rallied his troops to 9 and tried a 4 overlord drop on the terran main. Oov had read it perfectly though, and the drop met turrets and MM in a disastrous effort.
After fending off the drop, Oov worked on building up a wraith force from two starports. His land army was already fearsome, and it tried to keep Jju off balance by moving north. The Khan zerg was cunning though, and as the terran army moved north, lurker ling came from the bottom to strike at his expansion. Oov sent his wraiths to defeat the drop, and kept his army moving north. Jju met it head on with more lurker/ling, and oov was stopped in his tracks... due to no scan. With only one out of position vessel due to wraiths, and having lost the scanner at his natural, the monster terran was blind to the spikes that was ripping apart his army. It was only by rebuilding his scanner on his cc and using it just before it exploded was oov able to take out the lurkers at his front door. His vessel finally caught up to his main army and the wraiths joined the fray, as the tanks mowed down more lurkers that Jju was sending forward. With Jju having spent himself on the drop and counter attack, once the tanks planted their brackets in the ground there was nothing in his arsenal that would impeach them. He tried to dummy a drop, but oov wasn't biting and his wraiths were unopposed in the sky. With that, Jju was forced to type gg, and SK1 won their second straight ProLeague.
Oov > Jju
I have been really impressed with Jju lately, as he has shown a great touch in the proleague. It does not surprise me that he was chosen to be the ace of his team on a map that is very difficult to fight on zvt. Oovs build was a cheater build, designed to stall his opponent while taking his own expo. It worked, and Boxer's protégé came through when his team needed him the most.
SK_Telecom 4:3 Khan
This was an amazing series. Not all of the games were classic, but watching one game after the other the tension was enormous as both teams had to overcome deficits. Khan proved that you do not have to have a big name team in this format. It is all about how you trust your teammates, and how you can come through in the clutch. The 2v2's have been carrying them all season long, and they continued that by taking two of three from SK. However, in the final game, they just had no answer for the monster.
1v1 MVP
SK1: Iloveoov really came through in the last game, and he gets my vote for the MVP. Even for someone who has had his kind of success, he was truly happy coming out of his booth.
2v2 MVP
Khan: Ever played really well, not only on this day but all season. He went 2-0, defeating Kingdom twice, not to mention Boxer and a very tough Rumble. He was very clutch on this night.
Cheers,
Mani
I loved your writing.
![[image loading]](http://min.lazysouls.com/misc/boxerbottle.jpg)
