by Fionn


The Rosters:


Fnatic RC

J: The pro-gamer formerly known as Luvsic, now known as simply J, will be the starter for Fnatic tonight against Prime, having to go up against Byun. To be fair to him, he did recently qualify for Iron Squid, and that's a pretty impressive feat due to the top Korean players who tried to qualify. But then you actually look at his GS(T)L record, and he's 6-19.

...HE'S SIX AND NINETEEN. He has five straight GSTL losses (three from this season), and his only win was over a year ago against F.United's Soccer. More than likely he is another one of these practice bonjwas who do amazingly behind closed doors and in online tournaments, but bomb when the pressure is actually on. A loss tonight and he will fall down to a abysmal 6-20 record, but a win against Byun could turn his fortune around. Maybe? Hopefully?

ByuL: He had that amazing four-kill against LG-IM a season ago, but we are slowly leaning towards the word "patchzerg" instead of believing Byul is on his way to becoming a GSL mainstay. Symbol all-killed LG-IM and then went on to be in two straight Code S Ro8's and recently qualified for another Ro16. Byul got a four-kill against LG-IM, is still stuck in Code B, and is 2 - 6 in his last eight GSTL games, only being able to defeat sculp and Tassadar from the 9th place NS HoSeo team.

Moon: Maybe the greatest player in WC3, Moon showed life in SC2 last season. Similar to his teammate Byul, Moon hit a three-kill in Fnatic's meeting with Prime last season, beating even Byun and MarineKing. Sadly, even though Moon is a fan favorite and a legend, his good form might revolve all around the queen patch that happened during that time. Since those three kills against Prime, he has lost five straight GSTL games against a member of all three races.

Rain: No, not the Protoss Rain who forfeited his Code S spot to go to America, but the Terran Rain who forfeited his Code S spot to go to America. Rain has been one of the only bright spots for Fnatic in the last few months. Known mostly as the guy who likes to cheese a lot and was the person MC beat in his first GSL finals, Rain has had a bit of a resurgence lately. With an above .500 record this season in GSTL, he has a 3-2 score against his opponents. They might not have been the toughest opposition, Brave and Salvation being B-teamers forced to be A-teamers due to departures in the HoSeo line-up, and Sirius coming off the bench for FXO, but wins are wins, right? For Fnatic to have any chance against Prime, Rain is going to need to pull a win or two out of his hat.

aLive: After dropping TSL for a new team a few months ago, it looked like Alive was on the verge on becoming Korea's next great Terran. He won IPL4, got to the semifinals of Code S, and was on a roll. Now he's out of Code S with a mediocre performance in the Up/Downs, and he isn't doing any better in foreign tournaments, going a disastrous 2-4 in his NASL division. He's talked about how he has been too lax on Fnatic, and it shows. Looking over at his old team, TSL now has three players in the Ro16 of Code S, and Fnatic only has one player, Alive, in Code A this season. It's interesting to think that in an alternate timeline, aLive could be backed by, or even be the one backing three Code S level Zergs on the same team, but the reality is that is going to have to carry Moon, J, Departure, and Byul tonight.

With a 2 - 2 record this season, Alive has been decent in the team league, but when looking at the rest of the roster, especially without Oz, he needs to be more than just decent. Like it or not, this is Alive's team, and he is their ace. For them to advance onto to the Ro6, he needs to act like an ace and pull his team through a tough patch. He might cross his fingers and hope J can roll off a three-kill out of nowhere, but more than likely, for Fnatic to stay alive, it's down to aLive to make things happen.


Prime:

Creator. MarineKing. ByuN. MaruPrime.

If they lose tonight and get eliminated from GSTL, it'll be one of the bigger upsets in recent memory. They might not all be firing at full blast, but even with a 90% MarineKing and a 90% Creator, wouldn't you take those two over the entire Fnatic roster?


Prediction:

I like Fnatic. I like their uniforms. I like Alive. I like Moon. I even watch J in the GSTL hoping he can pull off a victory finally after a year drought. But at the end of the day, the team is not built to win GSTL. TSL can get by with their 1 Terran/1,000 Zerg approach because their one Terran, Polt, has been playing up to his standard lately, and their Zergs are Symbol (back to back Code S quarter-finals), Hyun (Ro16 Code S), Shine (has barely missed out on Code S two straight seasons), and others like Revival, Ragnarok, and Mamuri who are able to pitch in with a win here and there on occasion. Replace them with Zergs who haven't made it past the first round of Code A in 2012, and you can't expect to have that kind of success.

Everything in the universe is saying Prime should win. Even zombie Slayers, who are officially hanging their mice up tomorrow in one last send off match against MVP, have a better chance of winning than Fnatic do against Prime. Weird things have happened in GSL over the past two years, but nothing that weird.


Prime 5 - 1 Fnatic