EPT
vs
*A big thanks to Carnac for helping me with this report.
After winning the first two stages of the massive proleague, SK1 had blazed their way to the finals of the final set. This third stage was a four team tournament between the best teams from the first two stages. Fittingly, the two titans of progaming would mix it up in a final series.
KTF's roster is a mix of unproven youngsters and veterans who have weathered the changes in progaming over the past years.
Captain: Nal_rA (maybe Yellow? rumour has it that he gave the captaincy to Yellow a little while ago)
Sync
GoodFriend
Reach
Eji
Hery[HyO]
Mingu
GGMan
Chojja
Yellow
Meanwhile, SK can field a balanced attack with all three races, although their terrans are the most dominant aspect of their team.
Captain: Boxer
Iloveoov
Midas
Canata
Kingdom
IntotheRainbow
GoRush
MuMyung
Rumble
Spirit-Amonia-
PJ
*Both teams have more players, but they are members that would never play in this event and did not make the trip to the stadium... The roster can have a total of ten, so these lists aren't completely accurate.
The format for the finals was a best of 7, with 4 1v1 and 3 2v2. The coaches stood up at the beginning of the contest and gave their rosters for the first 6 games, leaving the ace game a mystery as always.
The stage for this ProLeague finals was pretty nice, as it was set in the bottom of an arena. A large square, it housed two booths for the players, and they were a vast improvement over the past. Because people were looking from all sides, they had clear walls and were 3 times bigger than the previous models OGN has used.
Prior to the game there was a touching retirement ceremony for H.O.T. Forever, where he recieved flowers, words of praise, and a glass trophy for his impact on the progaming scene. I swear, upon seeing that trophy rA just about left the table and mugged him for it. Anyways, it was very nice, and H.O.T. is a guy that deserves some recognition. You can check out an interview translated by FireBlast! here that deals with his retirement.
With guest commentators [Oops]January (Khan coach) and the P&C coach doing his best to look like a Korean Don Johnson, the coverage for the event was top of the line. Let’s check out the action...
Game 1: Boxer (SK) vs GoodFriend (KTF) on Lim-Point
Yes, this is a map that perfectly suits Boxer's play, and has thus been named after him. When you are 6-0, you get those kinds of labels. As for GoodFriend? Well, having never played this map in the ProLeague GoodFriend would have his hands full trying to take the first game from the SK captain.
The game started with GoodFriend at 5, and Boxer at 7, and GoodFriend quickly got a huge advantage with his build. Boxer had started with one factory/CC, while GF went for 2 factory vults with dual upgrades. He savaged Boxer's base, killing many scv, forcing a CC cancellation, and setting up a containment at the emporer’s ramp. All this before Boxer had left his base. Boxer rebuilt his CC in his base and produced double scv in his main, before floating it north to his 2nd natural.
He managed to level the playing field by dropping four tanks in GF's main, overlooking the natural. The drop shut down GF's expansion and killed a large number of scv. It took an emerging group of wraiths to end the threat, but the table had been leveled.
Boxer needed to move out of his main and break the containment, and so he led with scv to draw tank fire, and moved his tanks. However, his scv got stuck on a ramp glitch, and his tanks were butchered. On top of this, Boxer had no armoury (WTF BOXER) and the wraiths that had saved GF at home were now killing all of Boxer's defenses. Boxer used up the remainder of his units defending, and then typed GG as GoodFriend rolled up his ramp.
SK 0:1 KTF
GoodFriends build gave him a huge lead. I honestly think if not for the ramp glitch (which really fucked Boxer) and the lack of an armoury (which was just stupid) Boxer could have made a huge comeback. That drop he did had gone really well. However, give credit to GF for clamping down when gaining the advantage. A huge first win for KTF.
Even the commentators were disappointed that Boxer didn't win.
Game 2: Yellow - Nal_rA (ZP KTF) vs Canata - Rumble (TZ SK) on Usan Nation
rA and Yellow came into the first team game undefeated together, albiet with only two games played. Canata and Rumble have been very solid for SK1, going 7-2 in the proleague together.
The players started in vertical positions, with KTF Z@8 and KTF P@10. SK had Canata @5 and Rumble @1. Both zergs pooled fast, with two rax for Canata and rA heading directly for his core and two gates. Everybody but Canata was low-econ early in the game.
The games first engagement saw rA with his goons out of position. Lings trapped them on a ramp and MM mowed them down. Rumble had so few drones, but was using his lings very effectively with Canata's MM force. rA was soon pushed back to his main by the combined army, but he defended at his nexus with the help of Yellow's lings.
The initiative was all SK's, and they made their next attack count, flanking the KTF goon/ling army and killing it entirely. rA was working on a reaver in his main, and it headed south to defend Yello's base. SK did an excellent job sacrificing one forward unit to the scarab while letting their others destroy Yellow's base. rA had to pick up and head home, as Yellow was finished.
The end came quickly after, as Canata meched up with tanks and wraiths for the shuttle. rA made one more attack, but it was impossible vs two skilled opponents. GG to SK.
SK 1:1 KTF
SK simply had better positioning this game, and the MM was far stronger than the goons. It should have been TZvTZ in my opinion...
Game 3: Chojja vs Oov on Rush Hour II
If R-Point belongs to Boxer, then Rush Hour belongs to oov. He had won on the map two times the previous day vs Casy in his successful bid to reach the OSL finals. Like Boxer, he is 6-0 on this map in the ProLeague, and overall has been simply dominating.
After deflecting a bunker rush with his drones, ChoJJa (@3) went on the attack with ling/lurker while taking another expo at 1. Oov (@7) expanded after his failed attack. With the terran economy humming, ChoJJa commenced some mutalisk harassment while morphing in more lurkers and starting a quick hive. Timing was critical as oov headed to 1 o'clock with a marine/medic army. The lurkers at the natural were not yet morphed and oov stormed the expo. However, by sacrificing half a dozen mutalisks, ChoJJa bought enough time to save his expo and kill the MM army with lurkers and a well placed ensnare.
ChoJJa had saved his expo, but lost many of his mutalisks. Undeterred, he morphed the remaining flyers into guardians and sent them to attack the terran expansion. Oov boosted his macro and expanded to 9, while attacking ChoJJa's natural with a huge MM army. Guards popped just in time to save his main, but ChoJJa lost both this and a new expansion at 11 to MM forces.
As the guardians shut down oov's natural expansion, a large MM/tank force returned the favour by killing the hatchery at 1. ChoJJa only had 11 to mine from, and his guards were taking a beating at the terran main. Defilers tried to slow the terran march to the zerg main, but ChoJJa just did not have the money to keep the 2-2 marines at bay. When the wraiths headed to 11 and killed the remaining drones, the game was over. After some further defiler play, ChoJJa tapped gg, giving SK1 the lead.
SK1 2:1 KTF
ChoJJa played really well this game, and for a moment it was very close to going his way. However, after killing oov's natural, he essentially wasted his guards attacking a main, when he could have retreated to handle oov's army or attacked 9 to kill his other expo. Just a poor choice.
Game 4: ChoJJa - GoodFriend (ZT KTF) vs Rainbow - Rumble (ZP SK1) on Luna
This was a bit of a surprise by KTF, as most thought Reach would be playing on this map. However, an untested duo of ChoJJa and GoodFriend were up, with ChoJJa playing his second straight game. For the SK team, another duo with no games played together; Rainbow and Rumble.
SK started with Rainbow at 7 and Rumble at 1. Rainbow immediately headed to 11 and warped in a proxy gate/forge. Both zerg pooled right away, and they sniped at each other while Rainbow cannoned in GF. With the terran player safely bottled up, Rainbow started on his robo in a quest for reavers.
After another pause in the action due to computer issues (which enraged both coaches) the action continued with Rumble starting a lair and ChoJJa’s lings bottled up in his base. GoodFriend was finally making waves as his first tank sieged and leveled the protoss containment. He also had a wraith, which worked very well when Rainbow had his reaver out. The reaver was dropped in ChoJJa's base, but it could not accomplish anything and the shuttle was lost.
Freed from his prison, GoodFriend MM army went on a rampage, destroying Rumble's base in a heartbeat. The smiles on the KTF bench were broad as a combined SK attack on GF's ramp could not crack it. Rainbow lost another reaver/shuttle combo and GoodFriend moved his army south. In combination with mutalisks from ChoJJa, they wrapped up the game in quick fashion.
SK1 2:2 KTF
Rainbow really sucked this game. After getting in his containment, he could have just mass zealed his way over ChoJJa, because Rumble had done a good job containing mini-me in his base. But, he tried to get cute with reavers and never got off a single effective scarab.
Game 5: Sync vs Kingdom on Requiem
Sync out of the gate for KTF? On Requiem? I hope the KTF coach knows something I don't because Reach was still warming the bench. Continuing the trend of map killers for SK, Kingdom came into the game 7-1 on Requiem, with some memorable victories in the ProLeague.
The game started with yet another tech issue, this time for the SK team. Maybe it was a retaliation tactic by the SK coach, who knows. Anyways, the action started with Kingdom at 9 and Sync at 12. Kingdom stepped down hard, and never let Sync up for air. His early dragoon harassment made good use of the cliff above the block, and Sync lost numerous tanks and scv stopping the assault.
With his economy far exceeding Sync's, Kingdom teched to reavers which were quickly found by the KTF terran. This discovery allowed him to set up a defense, but you can't say he was prepared. Constant pressure from dragoons and reaver drops kept Sync in his main base. He was surviving, but barely. It was a long time before he had his second factory in place and even longer before his expansion was out. For his part, Kingdom had expanded a looong ways away in the south east corner, in the hopes that Sync would not find it.
Kingdom continued to run the game with a second expansion at 6 and constant pressure drops. A 17 kill reaver caused havoc in his base, and his reaction to that allowed for a dragoon attack at his expo to do damage. It was this constant pressure and tactics by Kingdom that eventually forced Sync into an all or nothing gambit. He moved his tanks out and spread some minefield in preparation for a push, but he was consistently stabbed in the back by reaver drops. By the time he finally made a move, Kingdom had far surpassed him in every aspect. In such an important game, Kingdom came out shining, and it was SK for the win.
SK 3:2 KTF
Kingdom just played a lot better than sync this game. From beginning with the goon harassment to the end that saw carriers, Sync was always behind and never held the initiative to attack.
Game 6: Yellow - Reach (ZP KTF) vs Midas - MuMyung (TZ SK1) on Iron Curtain
Now facing elimination, KTF sent out two of their veterans to save the day, together they are 7-2. Facing them was the stone faced Midas and MuMyung, a veteran in his own right. This was the second untested team sent out by the SK coach, and hopefully they would fair better than the last group.
The map was iron curtain, and SK opened with both players on the left and the KTF team on the right. This made for a much slower game than normal as the teams had time to tech up. Reach started on hidden dt tech while Midas used a factory to help cheat through some ling scouts. In the mean time, both zergs dropped their spires while Midas dropped two ports and researched cloaking.
Reach was not playing well early, by not having a dragoon for Yellow it cost his teammate several overlords to the initial wraiths. He did start a cannon wall at the mineral block, but his first two dt's that were slipped through got nowhere as the SK detection was tight as a drum.
With both players having muta, Midas continued building up a wraith fleet as Reach started 2 gate sairs. Both teams continued to build up an air force, with Midas adding valks. Once he began producing a land army, the SK team's advantage increased greatly. Trapped on the right side of the map, the KTF team had difficulty attacking effectively because of the strong anti-air. Left with little harassment, Midas took control of the game by tanking the curtain of minerals and mining from the center spots.
Unable to gain an entry across the wall, KTF was left frustrated on their side of the map. They could not attack, and their opponents were stealing the minerals, and the game, out from under them. SK played a purely defensive game, and KTF dug deeper into his tech tree. Reach produced a mass of DarkArchons for mind control while Yellow made three nydus canals to try and exploit an offensive tunnel strat. However nothing worked, and despite their harassment KTF knew their time was short.
In the end, it was SK who launched a final doom drop on the KTF side, protecting their lines with tanks from the rear and darkswarm. When MuMyung dropped 40 hydras on the KTF side, there was nothing KTF could do to hold it. And so, for the third straight time, SK1 was crowned ProLeague champions.
SK1 4:2 KTF
Other than his air, Midas didn't cross over the map until the minerals in the middle were mined out. By that time KTF had spent all their energy, and he was maxed out. Perfect play by SKTelecom, and just average play by KTF's final team. With that matchup, it is brutally hard for the PZ team to cross over to the other side and launch any kind of attack. When Terran can dominate the center minerals, it becomes an easy game.
There are many picture of the event posted on FighterForum, and many of the pictures in this report were taken from them. Here are some links:
Keep reading for interviews from the ProLeague Finals MVP, and from the team itself. Thanks a lot to miNi for the translations
From: http://www.fighterforum.com/news/news_read.asp?cat=INT&idx=10459
![[image loading]](http://image.fighterforum.com/showImage.asp?realFile=FFNEWS20060225232931001.JPG)
Kingdom getting support from his team after being voted MVP
-Your feelings about being the MVP?
▶I never thought I'd be the MVP. All I did was eat the feast prepared for the 20 of us (laughs). In 2004, we were stranded in the semifinals. As 2005 started, we just lashed out. We sincerely wanted to win this season. Since we won all rounds this year, I think we'll forget the grudge of last year. Our efforts are now starting to be shown.
-You opponent was Sync.
▶I didn't think I'd oppose a Zerg player. I practiced alot of PvP thinking that Reach would come out. Let's say, I thought 70% that I'd face a Protoss, and 30% that I'd face a Terran.
-How did you feel while preparing for the Grand Final?
▶My teammates supported and helped me a lot. They suffered alot and tried very hard. While practicing, I had to go to the emergency room. For a while, I've been trying to improve myself physically, but I still think I'm lacking. From now, I'll have to exercise alot. My motto is to never hide what I lack. I tried to hide what I lacked, and ended up going to the emergency room(laughs).
-Where are you going to use your prize money for being the MVP?
▶It hasn't really sunk in yet, that we won the ProLeague. I want to use all my prizemoney to buy my grandfather a car. My father has yet to get his Driver's License, so I want him to get his drivers' license and get around more comfortably.
-----------------
From: http://www.fighterforum.com/news/news_read.asp?cat=INT&idx=10458
![[image loading]](http://image.fighterforum.com/showImage.asp?realFile=FFNEWS20060225233233001.JPG)
The winning team... taking home the cash!
▶Boxer: First of all, I'm ecstatic that we are triple crowned the winners of Proleague. I'm very thankful to my teammates for doing a great job. I'm happy that I'm in such a team with these guys. My teammates finished the job that I failed at. Although I didn't win my match, I will make sure that we get into the next Proleague finals and I'll definitely win my match.
▶iloveoov: I didn't expect much due to fatigue from my semifinals match yesterday, but I came with a win. I'm feeling so great because I've won my match here today, on top of the match I won yesterday. Now I feel that my practice as soon as I went back to the HQ yesterday was definitely worth it. I've been asked if I was disappointed that I wasn't the MVP, but I'm not at all disappointed. I'm very satisfied that I won my match here at the finals. Kingdom did very well today to earn MVP.
▶Gorush: I'm very happy that we won the finals for the end of the 2005 season. Also, I'm happy that we get a winners' trophy. With this happiness, I think that we'll do well in the 2006 season also. Not only in the team leagues, but I think I'll do well in my individual leagues now. You can expect great things from our team for next season.
▶MuMyung: I'm happy that I was selected to play in the last game of this finals. I didn't know that I'll be this happy to provide my team with a victory from my win. I think I'm even more happy because this is the finals. In the 2006 season, I'll show you great things from not only my team's play, but also from my individual performance.
▶Rainbow: First of all, I'm happy we are triple-crowned the Proleague Victors. I've realized what teamwork truly is from the 2005 Proleague season. Although I didn't win my match, the faith I had in my teammates was overwhelming. In my next opportunity, I want to be the player giving that feeling to my teammates.
▶Rumble: I'm feeling so good right now. I hoped to make this my 2nd win including the game I won in the previous finals, but I lost. If another chance comes, I will surely get my 2nd win.
▶Midas: My feelings are good. My luck was good. Rather than my win, I'm happy that the team won. The reason the last game was long was because I wanted to win safely. I will continue to do my best.
▶Canata: I was able to seek revenge for my loss to KTF in the finals of the first round. I'd like to thank the team Director, Coach and my fellow teammates for helping me and believing in me. Although Proleague has finished, my schedule for individual leagues is about to being. I will practice hard with this continued good feeling.
▶Anomia: It's regretful that I didn't get to play in the 7th game, which I practiced hard for. Actually, I was just kidding (laughs). I learned alot while preparing for this grand final. I will try to become a player with the opportunity to play a game in the next finals.
Thanks a lot for that work miNi!
Manifesto7
![[image loading]](http://image.fighterforum.com/showImage.asp?realFile=FFPHOT20060226045635005.JPG)
![[image loading]](http://image.fighterforum.com/showImage.asp?realFile=FFPHOT20060226054740002.JPG)
![[image loading]](http://image.fighterforum.com/showImage.asp?realFile=FFPHOT20060226055857011.JPG)
