by Waxangel

Where they Stand

There's no question that there are two titans looming over all others in this tournament. First, there's SK-LG-IM, with ten GSL championships on their roster, and bench members who could be aces on other teams.

Then there's StarTaleQ, a team that also has an embarrassing wealth of talent. By absorbing ZeNEX on top of their partnership with Quantic Gaming, their prospective starting five is now Life, Squirtle, PartinG, Curious, and Bomber – leaving players like Hack, TheStC, AcE, Suhosin, and SaSe on the bench. If you're looking at just pure depth, StartaleQ might have a one-up on LG-IM.

The only knock on Startale – or KongTale, as they're calling it in Korea – is that they're on a bizarre streak of second place finishes in tournaments. This year, in team and individual competitions, they've had no less than five second place finishes, and zero first place finishes to show for it. On one hand, it's impressive that they've reached so many finals. On the other hand, losing, in the end, is still losing. This season, they'll look to brush off the Kong stigma once and for all.

MVP is a team that's much harder to figure out. While their performances in 2011 gave them a reputation of being DongRaeGu's team, he's been slumping hard in the GSTL this year. Despite this, MVP has been chugging along quite respectably, reaching the semi-finals on two occasions on the strength of their lesser known players like Finale, Sniper, and Monster.

To cast it in a positive light, you could say MVP is far from being a one man team, and have the depth to be a title contender. At the same time, you have to wonder if that their ace can't find his form, being merely 'good' is their ceiling.

The last few months have been a rough stretch for most of the MVP team, and none of them have found much success in individual leagues. For some of them, this is the only tournament they'll have been looking forward to for weeks. However, if remains to be seen if they'll be able to turn that focus in to relevant results.


The Rosters

StartaleQ:

StartaleQ's number of viable options is so ridiculous it's almost a chore to list them all. Here's a quick run through the players of interest, and I'm sorry if I skipped your favorite ex-ZeNEX player.

SaSe and Illusion: Let's start off by saying SaSe and Illusion probably won't play, unfortunately for fans of foreigners. SaSe has the skill to play in the GSTL, but PartinG and Squirtle are definitely preferable to him (especially now that they have no other leagues to prepare for), and AcE has historically had the favor of Startale management. In Illusion's case, he's way behind Hack and Bomber, and probably behind Virus and Sound as well.

AcE: For the level of play he shows in GSL matches, Startale management seem to have a strange amount of faith in AcE, deploying him in important matches. Perhaps he's another practice-bonjwa waiting to break out? However, with PartinG and Squirtle both having no individual leagues to prepare for, it seems unlikely that AcE will be getting any chances soon. And yes, I know I jinxed it.

Hack, TheStC, and Bomber: Because of reputation and seniority, Bomber is still ostensibly the Terran ace. But in terms of actual ability, there's not much separating these three skilled Terrans. Bomber and TheStC are better at TvT, Hack is probably the best TvP player, and all three are relatively lacking in TvZ compared to their other match-ups.

I get the feeling TheStC won't get used unless StartaleQ is in an important match where they really, really need his TvT skills. The long term view would say it's better to get the still-jittery Hack some more booth experience than marginally increase your chance of winning in a match you're favored to win anyway.

Curious: A consistent, productive player, and an especially deadly ZvZ sniper. Unfortunately, he doesn't really seem to thrive under pressure, and he's another player you'd like to see come out early and rack up the kills while the pressure is off.

PartinG: As we all know, PartinG is a deadly PvT player with a weakness in PvZ, and lucky enough to be on a team where he'll only be asked to play to his strengths. He recently became the second Protoss to all-kill Prime in the IPTL, taking advantage of their lack of a skilled ZvP player.

Squirtle: An excellent all around player who you'd expect to be a super-ace like Symbol, all-killing opponents and being his team's insurance in case of emergencies, but it just hasn't played out that way. Instead, he's a decent mid line-up option that gets you a few reliable wins per night. Disappointing, but with Startale's present depth, one or two wins is all they really need from Squirtle.

Life: Life has improved by leaps and bounds in the few months since joining Startale (coincindence or not), and he might even be the best Zerg in Korea. While you have to appreciate the pure skill he brings to the team, the best thing about Life might be his mentality.

The other key members of the team struggle with consistency and performing under pressure, and they've struggled to find a player who they can definitely call their ace. Life? His stone-cold, don't-give-a-f*** attitude is exactly what they need in an ace. I'd love to see Life play as the designated ace, taking the pressure off the rest of the roster and letting them play early to build up momentum. Bomber, Curious, Squirtle, and PartinG are guys you can see getting all-kills if they're allowed to play first, and Life could be the key to executing that strategy.


MVP:

MVP's strength is also depth. There's no "I love my team, but I really wish someone better than TheBest was playing in this spot" problems for MVP, and their fans can be fairly satisfied with whatever line-up they decide to go with. The problem is that all of those options just seem are just one level worse across the board when you compare them to StartaleQ. Where MVP fans are likely to be satisfied with their roster, StartaleQ fans can be ecstatic. Here's a similar rundown:

finale and Vampire: Better-than-you-think players who have shown they can be streaky in team competition. Genius may have left the team, but these two were already being played ahead of him in the first place.

KeeN, sC, TAiLS, Dream and Noblesse: Just because they've disappeared from the spotlight doesn't mean their skills have disappeared as well. These guys are making it through tough online qualifiers with plenty of top level pros, but can't catch a break in the GSL (Noblesse made it through Code B, only to be fed to Creator in Code A. He actually played pretty well in the matches). While they might not carry the team, expect these guys to play their part and contribute.

Monster and Sniper: The actual Zerg aces of MVP that have been outperforming DongRaeGu this year. One of the great subplots of GSTL Season Two was how the queen patch affected the tournament, with Zerg players coming out with huge win totals. While Life and Symbol went on to play well in individual leagues, the rest of the Zergs who shined in Season Two are still looking for opportunities to show that they weren't just lucky beneficiaries of a temporary balance shift.

Monster has been particularly disappointing, failing to even make it past the first round of Code A. Sniper is a player who's in a hazy area, playing very well to make it into two Code S tournaments, but getting eliminated both times in the Ro32. To avoid the PatchZerg reputation, both Monster and Sniper are going to have impress in this tournament.

DongRaeGu: MVP's a true team effort in terms of competing in the GSTL, but they're a real one-man team when it comes to the spotlight. Up to 2011, he was the best player in the history of the GSTL, but in 2012, that reputation has left him. Against a lesser team, MVP would be able to prevail with a collective, balanced effort. However, against a top class team like StartaleQ, MVP must have a strong performance from DRG if they are to stand a chance.

Realistically, it's unlikely that we'll get a dominating, old-school DongRaeGu performance. He hasn't been playing well ever since he won MLG Spring Championship, and you could say that players like Stephano, Symbol, and Life have already passed him. However, off his past reputation alone, he deserves to have faith put in him. Just not too much.


Overall Outlook and Prediction

Strangely enough, the team best known for being a one man team in 2011 has succeeded based on real 'team' efforts in 2012. Unfortunately for MVP, team competition in SC2 is just individual competition trying to masquerade as something its not, and in the case of the all-kill format, it's a particularly unconvincing disguise. StartaleQ just has too much star power, and no collection of talented, underrated players is going to be able to take them on.

The thing is, even with DongRaeGu playing at his old level, MVP would be hard pressed to win. Curious and Life are probably the two best ZvZ players in Korea, and together they're more than enough to neutralize the threat DRG poses. Now that DongRaeGu is looking like a shadow of his former self, it's hard to see any hope for his team.

StartaleQ 5 - 3 MVP