TaeJa continued to roll on in his quest for a Code S championship to complete his trophy case, handily defeating former GSL finalist Leenock in the quarter-finals. Though the scoreline read 3 – 1 at the end of the day, it easily could have been a clean sweep for the young Terran star.
Leenock got his sole victory in the first match on Cloud Kingdom, where he spent most of the game getting harassed severely by the active TaeJa. While his economy was in tatters, Leenock left himself an ace in the hole by piecing together a powerful hive army. In a scene reminiscent of Leenock's games from the round of sixteen, one disastrous engagement from TaeJa was enough to turn the tide and give the FXO ace a comeback victory.
With a chance to continue building momentum in the second game, Leenock ended up on the road to ruin. Leenock gambled on a daring and creative burrowed roach timing, but paid the price when TaeJa glimpsed the unusual sight of double roach-warrens with a well placed scan. Passive play with marauders and siege tanks took care of the attack with ease, and the series was tied up. 1 – 1 then quickly became 1 – 2 as TaeJa added another win on Entombed Valley with a two-barracks all-in.
That put Leenock in a most unenviable spot going into game four, fighting to avoid elimination on one of TaeJa's best maps in Antiga Shipyard. Leenock showed admirable perseverance, much like in game one, by putting together a deadly final army despite being crippled economically. He was once again rewarded, as TaeJa committed to yet another overconfident engagement only to see his army get wiped out. This time, however, Leenock wasn't able to keep up his fine play to complete the comeback. A horrendous mis-rally sent four ultralisks to their deaths, giving TaeJa the breathing room to gather himself and finish Leenock off.
– Letting some air out
While the end result lived up to the expectations of most (84% of fans in the TL survey thought TaeJa would win), the game quality fell far behind. With TaeJa winning three foreign tournaments in three months, and Leenock having won MLG and crushed his Ro16 group, it seemed that a clash between the two would result in an epic series.
Instead, there was a fair amount of sloppy play, especially in the last game where TaeJa blew a lead with an awful attack, only to have Leenock gift the game right back with his ultralisk giveaway. Leenock's double-warren roach attack in game two was something that would have been brilliant had it worked, but because it failed so miserably, it contributed to making the series largely forgettable.
In terms of future implications, TaeJa's late-game play was particularly worrisome. He had a lot of trouble dealing with Leenock's late-game hive compositions, and it seemed certain that Leenock would have rolled him over had he ever reached the late-game in good shape. TaeJa's good early-mid game play saw him through, but one must wonder if that will be good enough against his next opponent.
In the other quarter-final match, Life continued his march down the royal road with his most impressive victory yet, running circles around MarineKing in a 3 – 1 rout. It was a fine display of Life's aggressive style, dissecting MarineKing so clinically that it made the hive-rush styles of other Zergs seem outdated and inferior in comparison.
Like in the series before, the eventual loser took the first map before losing three straight. MarineKing opted to mix things up by going for the marine-marauder style of play abandoned by most Terrans, which ended up indirectly countering Life's own unorthodox play of mass zerglings and speed banelings off three bases. MarineKing was able to hold out and stabilize against Life's constant attacks, and then rode his advantage to a 1 – 0 lead.
The Life show started on the second map on Daybreak with yet another ling-baneling strategy. Life was able to disguise his delayed ling-baneling all-in as standard greedy play, easily crushing MarineKing before he could benefit from his three orbital command centers.
MarineKing decided he would bring his own cheese in game two, going for a proxy two-rax rush, only to be blind-countered by Life's decision to go for an early pool. The game ended up stabilizing and progressing in a fairly standard manner, but Life held the advantage from his better handling of the early game. Life turned that advantage into an overwhelming infestor-backed army, forcing MarineKing to tap out of yet another game.
Life applied the coup-de-grâce in game four with smart speedling play, which has quickly replaced creative all-ins as his signature strength. With MarineKing going for a typical hellion-banshee strategy, Life was able to take advantage of him by pumping out an unexpected number of speedlings early on. MarineKing continued to try and harass with his units, but he was punished for his attempts by constant backstabs attacks from Life. The situation quickly got out of hand for MarineKing, and mutas were soon in his base while he belatedly transition to mech with just a single thor for anti-air. As he is apt to do, MarineKing held out for as long as he could, but in the end he had to concede the series to the Royal Road candidate.
– The 'Best Zerg in the World' Hot Potato
With Symbol and Leenock eliminated, Life has been left as the only Zerg player in the GSL. With impressive players like Stephano, Vortix, Scarlett, and Nerchio doing well in the West, the best in Korea = best in World equation doesn't seem to apply to Zerg like it does for the other races, but you have to say that Life has a great case.
Much like his Protoss counterpart in Rain, Life doesn't have a large body of work yet, but the quality he has shown in his limited games has been enough to win many fans over. Next week he'll face his toughest challenge yet in TaeJa, a player who he has an abysmal head to head record against. If Life should prevail, then there should be no question as to who's the best Zerg – though if trends continue as they have so far, he'll have to work very hard to hang on to that title.
Writer: Waxangel. Graphics and Art: Meko. Editors: Waxangel.
TaeJa continued to roll on in his quest for a Code S championship to complete his trophy case, handily defeating former GSL finalist Leenock in the semi-finals.
Small error there, otherwise good writeup as always!
I would like to see a ZvP final between Rain and Life. It would represent an interesting parallel (Royal Roaders) and opposition (the BW-bred star versus the purely-SC2 prodigy).
I am a bit sad to see that code S zergs still get kicked out of a game because of a proxy two racks O_o, but taeja played great nonetheless, his harass all three games were insane. Life against Taeja is going to be an absolute blast!
So worried for taeja :s In the first game he had such a beast army, so many tanks and vikings and thors, even going for raven. too bad he didn't have more expos faster. Happy to see terrans finally winning with mech though! super excited for any of the potential finals. taeja vs sun is what I'm hoping for, that way we get to see how the royal roader fairs against the best two terrans in the world. life vs any of these three would also be an awesome matchup
The situation quickly got out of hand for MarineKing, and mutas were soon in his base while he belated transition to mech with just a single thor for anti-air.
should be his belated transition? excellent writeup
On October 06 2012 06:15 teamhozac wrote: MKP Nooooooo not again!!!
HAHAHAHA YES!!! This GSL season is by far the most entertaining for me, and the longer it goes on the more certain I am that the finals will be between Life and Rain.
With impressive players like Stephano, Vortix, Scarlett, and Nerchio doing well in the West, the best in Korea = best in World equation doesn't seem to apply to Zerg like it does for the other races
Please say you are joking. These zergs would do far worse in GSL than people like Leenock and Symbol.
Even if Life beat Taeja, I doubt he could take out MVP in the final. Cuz MVP is gonna win this whole shit. Then he become the true SC 2 Bonjwa and retire happily until HOTS out.
On October 06 2012 06:54 stuchiu wrote: Life, the dancing ling, Young and Keen and only fifteen.
referencing done right
The Ro8 went pretty much exactly as expected on all fronts. The semis will be harder to predict, but it just seems so hard to picture Rain losing to, well, anyone right now so I must see him as the favourite for this, As for who he'll play the finals against... I honestly have no idea, Life vs TaeJa is dead even on paper, and both've been looking really god damn scary leading up to this. In the end I decided to LB Life and predict him winning 3-2, but honestly anything can happen.
Regardless, I don't see anyone beating Rain this season.
I hope Life beats Taeja, I really don't like Taeja and I want some ST victory in the GSL. <3 Plus, Royal Road, yadayadayada. ;-D
Really though, surprised Life dismantled MKP like that, granted MKP is an emotional one. Well, glad to see rising Zerg talent, there really just doesn't seem like theres a surplus of good Zerg players in KR. :-P
On October 06 2012 07:28 mrRoflpwn wrote: If life beats taeja I might not watch the finals...
Why wouldn't you watch MVP vs Life? It'd just be a higher level version of Taeja vs Life.
Why wouldn't you watch Rain vs. Life?
Seriously, every final is acceptable.
Ehh I can slightly understand not wanting to watch a PvZ. Even if that would pretty much be the best possible one in existence. PvZ is probably the most boring matchup in the game. I've even liked PvP more lately.
On October 06 2012 05:53 renaissanceMAN wrote: MKP tilted so hard
if MKP had the nerves/personality of rain, he'd be unstoppable
No, he wouldn't. He doesn't have Rain's mechanics, all MKP has is micro.
Meh His mechanics are pretty good. The thing that make MKP so inconsistent right now is his decision making.
And god damnit, Life is just scary. That guy is 15yo and he broke the mentality of a player we're seeing since the Open Championship GSLs like it's nothing
On October 06 2012 05:53 renaissanceMAN wrote: MKP tilted so hard
if MKP had the nerves/personality of rain, he'd be unstoppable
No, he wouldn't. He doesn't have Rain's mechanics, all MKP has is micro.
Meh His mechanics are pretty good. The thing that make MKP so inconsistent right now is his decision making.
And god damnit, Life is just scary. That guy is 15yo and he broke the mentality of a player we're seeing since the Open Championship GSLs like it's nothing
Are you really surprised that Life broke the mentality of MKP? MKP really needs to just toughen up a little bit, I feel like that 10 pool vs 2 rax game was essentially a bo loss but it completely cracked him. Him and Byun both have issues with staying calm, they need polt back on Prime lol.
Mvp vs Taeja finals would be preferable, but I'd also love to see an Mvp vs Life finals just to see how Mvp handles Life styles. Would be really exciting.
Either way, I'm so excited for the Barcraft in Sydney!
I feel everyone is writing off Taeja as a viable contender against Rain since he lost once in the ro16. He's Taeja goddammit, give him some credit guys.
Somehow hoping and expecting Rain to dismantle MVP but would not mind an epic semi after so many one-sided games in the Ro8. Rain has been showing so neat play so far and MVP TvP, well, I am not sure if it is enough to beat Rain. Do not expect any crazy cheeses to work against Rain, do not expect MVP to get good late game engagement against Rain. So what, out multi-task Rain? After seeing the Ro16 (Rain-Teaja, Rain-Polt) that seems pretty hard, but would give us pretty fun games. Out macro him. Would be interesting to see. Sneaky mid-game timing (MVP has 4 days left to be really creative). Anyway Polt took a map, MVP can probably take a map as well. If it is the first one, then things might get interesting.
The Life-MKP games I thought were kind of fun: making MKP taste his own medicine and tilt completely. But now I guess Teaja now has pretty clear expectations on what Life will try and now starts the infinite hierarchy of high-order beliefs: if Teaja expects that kind of aggression to come at him should he play super solid? But then Life should go for a super early third hatch? Hope we does not end up with heavy meta-gaming and blind countering, that would make a sad semi. I hope anyway the game are less frustrating to watch than the Teaja-Leenock games. (That double roach warren in range of a unique scan, why leenock, why?)
As for the finals Teaja-Rain is probably the final I hope for. An extended rematch after these two games in the Ro16.
Rain-Life, somehow I feel I know the result of that game already, but h the kid has been showing some skills maybe that would give us the epic finals we are waiting for. Different match-up, but if Rain is the new MVP and Life is the new Leenock, well, I am watching that one.
As for the two finals with MVP, well either match-up have a nice story behind them. Maybe MVP/Life could have this MVP/Leenock flavor to it. Several zergs, one mind. Does not matter who takes MVP out.
On October 06 2012 19:07 sunless wrote: Somehow hoping and expecting Rain to dismantle MVP but would not mind an epic semi after so many one-sided games in the Ro8. Rain has been showing so neat play so far and MVP TvP, well, I am not sure if it is enough to beat Rain. Do not expect any crazy cheeses to work against Rain, do not expect MVP to get good late game engagement against Rain. So what, out multi-task Rain? After seeing the Ro16 (Rain-Teaja, Rain-Polt) that seems pretty hard, but would give us pretty fun games. Out macro him. Would be interesting to see. Sneaky mid-game timing (MVP has 4 days left to be really creative). Anyway Polt took a map, MVP can probably take a map as well. If it is the first one, then things might get interesting.
The Life-MKP games I thought were kind of fun: making MKP taste his own medicine and tilt completely. But now I guess Teaja now has pretty clear expectations on what Life will try and now starts the infinite hierarchy of high-order beliefs: if Teaja expects that kind of aggression to come at him should he play super solid? But then Life should go for a super early third hatch? Hope we does not end up with heavy meta-gaming and blind countering, that would make a sad semi. I hope anyway the game are less frustrating to watch than the Teaja-Leenock games. (That double roach warren in range of a unique scan, why leenock, why?)
As for the finals Teaja-Rain is probably the final I hope for. An extended rematch after these two games in the Ro16.
Rain-Life, somehow I feel I know the result of that game already, but h the kid has been showing some skills maybe that would give us the epic finals we are waiting for. Different match-up, but if Rain is the new MVP and Life is the new Leenock, well, I am watching that one.
As for the two finals with MVP, well either match-up have a nice story behind them. Maybe MVP/Life could have this MVP/Leenock flavor to it. Several zergs, one mind. Does not matter who takes MVP out.
Replace Rain with Parting/Squirtle(well except the matches in the parentheses).One thing that MVP does good is winning it's rly hard to predict this one
On October 06 2012 12:15 MateShade wrote: Don't compare Stephano to Korean zergs. Sure he 'might' be 'almost' as good but until he goes to Korea and proves it he's not even in the top 10
Im in the same boat. If Stephano declines his 5 billionth Code S invitation in the next GSL which is the shortest in GSL history of only a mere 1 month with the quarterfinals & finals being in LA, then dont expect him to participate at all.
On October 06 2012 05:53 renaissanceMAN wrote: MKP tilted so hard
if MKP had the nerves/personality of rain, he'd be unstoppable
No, he wouldn't. He doesn't have Rain's mechanics, all MKP has is micro.
Are you fucking kidding me dude? SC2 mechanics are NOTHING for any korean progamer, mkp is very aggressive that doesn't mean he can't play a macro game.. You may mean decision making but mastering protoss mechanics isn't exactly impressive.
On October 06 2012 06:38 tuho12345 wrote: Even if Life beat Taeja, I doubt he could take out MVP in the final. Cuz MVP is gonna win this whole shit. Then he become the true SC 2 Bonjwa and retire happily until HOTS out.
Except Taeja has absolutely crushed MVP every single time he has played him in GSL. So if they play in the final it would be no different
On October 06 2012 05:53 renaissanceMAN wrote: MKP tilted so hard
if MKP had the nerves/personality of rain, he'd be unstoppable
No, he wouldn't. He doesn't have Rain's mechanics, all MKP has is micro.
proof that as protoss all you need is mechanics?
MKP's mechanics are solid, but rain definitely has better nerves, which imo leads to better decision making.
MKP is emotional, worst thing about getting emotional is you start making emotional decisions based on your feelings and not calculating.
It's alright to be a fan here but your not really thinking this through to much.
People all act different, who says Rain is not nerveus but hides it well ? Plenty of nerveus people can make great discisions, if that was true on what you say MKP could not even do a proper 2rax. Nerves alone don't make bad decision making.
MKP might be as good as he is just becuase he is very emotional, if he lost his emotions he might get worse instead.
Also i believe MVP has what it takes to take Rain down, more so then Life or Taeja has. IF Rain beats MVP he's got that title in the bag.
Hoping for a Life vs MVP finals. MVP really shouldn't be able to beat Rain, but then again he probably shouldn't have beaten Squirtle or Parting in Season 2, so who the fuck knows?
Just my five cents into the whole discussion. Looks like we all agree that Rain is playing godly atm.
Life vs Taeja Until yesterday I thougt life to be the favourite. But after Life in GSTL was outpalyed by Keen - not so sure anymore. Lets hope he learned smth from this
Anyway hoping Rain vs Life. Just because they deserved it this season the most
On October 06 2012 12:15 MateShade wrote: Don't compare Stephano to Korean zergs. Sure he 'might' be 'almost' as good but until he goes to Korea and proves it he's not even in the top 10
I don't really mind the statement about Stephano, its a little bold but whatever kid is a beast and im not even on the bandwagon I am just speaking from results, but saying players like Vortix and even Scarlett are in the running for best zerg in the world is a bit much. Granted I haven't seen a lot of Scarlett but doesn't that kinda make my point. Vortix is a phenomenal player but I don't see him doing much better than most foreigners if put in the GSL.
On October 06 2012 12:15 MateShade wrote: Don't compare Stephano to Korean zergs. Sure he 'might' be 'almost' as good but until he goes to Korea and proves it he's not even in the top 10
Stephano might not have gone to Korea to train that much yet but he is still an amazing Zerg when you hear all the Koreans who have played Stephano in foreign tournaments talk about him you start to get the impression that he is as good as alot of the korean zergs. A couple of the korean protoss and terrans say that he is just as good as the korean Zergs that they play against.... Alot of pros have recently said that they feel Zerg skill level outside of korea is very close to zerg skill level in korea.... Obviously this is all opinion based and yours is that Stephano isnt that good. Just look at his Team Liquid stats in the TLPD outside of korea he has the highest win rate of any player in professional matches obviously the guy is really good...