by Waxangel.


Match Results from Live Report Thread by Dodgin.

+ Show Spoiler [Results] +

Startale Half-Shining
– Startale survive a scare, defeating MVP 5 – 4

Though they came into the GSTL with undoubtedly a top two roster in the league, StartaleQ just narrowly avoided defeat as they took their first match against team MVP. A risky decision to deploy Sparta, an inexperienced player acquired through their merger with ZeNEX, combined with an uncharacteristically sloppy game from Life seriously jeopardized the series before a clutch Curious came through in the ace match.

The series began with both sides trading blows for a 1 – 1 start, as ST_Bomber took the first point by overrunning MVPsC with mech on Entombed Valley, and then fell in turn to Sniper on Muspelheim, in a game where the MVP Zerg's incredible creep spread was a highlight.

Startale then turned to a sniper of their own in PartinG, who executed a picture perfect immortal all-in on Ohana, a signature Startale Protoss map & build order combination. Like many Zergs before, Sniper fell as well, putting Startale up 2 – 1.

– DongRaeGu's plight continues, TAiLS picks up the pieces

MVP turned to their ace player to take out PartinG, but unfortunately for DongRaeGu, he couldn't use this opportunity to get himself back on track. Even after picking the Zerg favored Abyssal City as the battleground, DongRaeGu was helpless to resist as PartinG simply decided to go for another variant of the immortal-sentry all-in to pick up his second win.

At that point, things were looking very grim for MVP, down 1 – 3 with two of their best players already eliminated. However, an unexpected, and somewhat lucky performance from MVP.TAiLS allowed them salvage the situation.

First, TAiLS came with one of his patented cannon rushes on the new map Grand Lagoon, mirroring his successful use of a similar strategy on the then-new Muspelheim in the previous season. PartinG defended impressively (partly in thanks to a misplaced cannon from TAiLS), buying time while establishing a new 'main' base at his natural. However, TAiLS was able to hold out against PartinG's 4-gate, and then won the game with his own counter-attack.

StartaleQ's next roster choice was the most surprising of the night, opting to go with ex-ZeNEX player Sparta, who had just come off eliminating Nestea from Code A. Sparta appeared as if he would continue his winning ways when he caught whiff of TAiLS' 4-gate in time. Unfortunately for Sparta, he misjudged the situation horribly after fending off the initial rush with two bunkers, assuming TAiLS would try to transition into standard play. Instead, TAiLS added one more gateway and went for a delayed 5-gate push, easily toppling Sparta to tie the score right back up at 3 – 3.

– Life and Curious haul StartaleQ to victory, despite a valiant effort from Keen

StartaleQ immediately reverted to playing their A-team members, with GSL semi-finalist Life coming out next. TAiLS went for a different kind of cheese in his third game, trying to sneak in a hidden third base, but good scouting from Life allowed him to destroy the base with a nydus worm and follow it up with an easy victory, giving StartaleQ a 4 – 3 lead.

Down to their last player, MVP decided to go with the brilliant but inconsistent KeeN. Life lived up to his reputation as Korea's hottest Zerg player at first, stuffing Keen's double-reactor hellion strategy and taking a massive mid game lead. Yet, overconfidence seemed to come into play for Life, as he squandered much of his muta-ling army in the mid game, and crucially allowed a drop from Keen to take out his greater spire. This gave Keen a timing to attack with a huge marine-tank army, which was enough to seal a comeback victory and send the series to an ace match.

With Squirtle and Curious left as likely ace cards, StartaleQ opted to go with Curious for the final showdown on Cloud Kingdom. Keen took the initial lead when Curious failed to defend his drones against hellions early on, making a thrilling victory for the underdogs seem very likely.

But living up to the hype of an ace match, victory refused to come that easily to Keen. While he was able to set up a powerful mech-terran foundation off his early gains, he couldn't find a way to put Curious away for good. Curious bought time with back door attacks, sacrificed his own bases liberally, and most critically prevented Keen from taking a fourth base (depending on one's point of view, Keen was not aggressive enough in trying to take his fourth).

In spite of a drone casualty count in the 100's and all around sloppy play, Curious did enough to persevere until he could produce eleven brood lords at once. Keen's response was to go straight to ravens and hunter-seeker missiles, which turned out to be the incorrect choice in that situation. Though Curious ate a few high-damage shots from the spellcasters, he had enough brood lords to overpower Keen in a final, climactic battle and receive the final GG of the series.

Player of the Match: ST_PartinG

GomTV stuck to their trend of awarding the ace player and gave Curious their MVP award, but I decided go with PartinG instead.

Zerg players around the world will be shaking their fists in anger at PartinG's choice to go for two consecutive immortal-sentry all-ins in a row, but the fact remains that he defeated the opposing team's two best players in Sniper and DongRaeGu. That should have been enough to set the table for the remaining members of StartaleQ to win the match easily, and the series only went down to the wire because Sparta and Life gave away big advantages.

– Looking ahead: StartaleQ vs. LG-IM, SlayerS vs MVP

StartaleQ's victory sets up the best possible matches in the upcoming weeks. First, there's the immense clash of titans between StartaleQ and LG-IM in the winners match of Group B. These two teams have the most stacked rosters in the GSTL, and there could be some incredible matches in store.

In the losers match, we can look forward to an epic elimination battle between SlayerS and MVP. While the mirroring declines of DRG and MMA make this a less interesting match in the present, this is still a great match in a historical context. Who can forget their showdown over a year ago in GSTL May 2011, where MMA defeated DRG in the finals ace match to win SlayerS their second GSTL title? The stakes will be high in this rematch, and both teams will fight tooth and nail to avoid elimination.