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Leenock'd
by stuchiu
Results via Live Report Thread by opterown.
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Creator came blazing out of the gates in the elimination match between FXOpen and Prime, but in the end it was the Leenock hot continued his weeks long hot-streak to crush the Prime's hopes and dreams. Leenock lived up to his status as ace of the defending champions FXOpen, taking four victories off Prime, including against their top Terran trio in Maru, Byun, and MKP.
The unstoppable force meets the immovable object.
Both teams started the match guns blazing, with the
FXOGuMiho taking on 
CreatorPrime. When Gumiho is on top of his game, he is an unstoppable force of multi-tasking and aggression that runs his opponent into the ground while getting further ahead in economy and upgrades until the advantage becomes a landslide. Conversely, when Creator is on top of his game, he is an immovable object, a defensive juggernaut that kills and deflects all harassment while getting ahead in economy and upgrades until he assembles a perfect army to smash his enemy underfoot. From minute five, it was on with Gumiho starting the harassment in twio different areas using hellions and a medivac drop. As the game went on, the harassment would get heavier with a raven mixed in and viking hunting down observers, a roving pack of hellions poking at any weak points of Creator and dropships threatening a backstab if Creator was out of place for one moment. This all culminated in a massive runby with the hellions into the natural and a pdd drop into the main which would then meet up and do kills probes and pick off an errant colossus.However, when it was all said and done, Creator’s defenses were like an iron wall, and while Gumiho certainly brought a lot of flash, Creator made sure there was no substance. Gumiho yanked Creator around on a leash, but he could not stop him from growing into a rampaging beast. It was a game of clashing ideologies between Gumiho’s attack and Creator’s defense that ended with Creator’s timing push on Gumiho’s 4th. It was a heroic defense as Gumiho sniped all of Creator’s collosus before they did major damage. Unfortunately, Gumiho had lost too many medivacs in harass attempts and Creator had an observer on hand to kill the cloaked ghosts. With no staying power, Creator’s constant gateway reinforcements would win him the game.
Creator continued his momentum with two more kills, both coming against the weaker Zergs from the FXO bench.
Lucky tried to do some muta pressure, but couldn’t get anything going before dying to a horde of +3 blink stalkers. JKS actually got ahead early with an odd 2 base build as he caught all of Creator’s sentries out in the open. Unfortunately for JKS, he was too indecisive with what he wanted to do. He looked like he wanted to bust by making more units, but then stopped and made drones and teched. He kept wavering between heavy pressure and building up his economy, eventually leaving him with just corruptors and infestors to fend off Creator’s 3 base attack. The Immovable objects meets his match, the coin flip.
With FXO down three games, they sent out their best protoss player,
Tear. It was a quick game as Creator went for a risky build and did a very fast 3 gateway attack to try to kill Tear. When a zealot, stalker, and proxy pylon coming early, Tear quickly realized what was happening and reacted quickly to kill the pylon. Creator kept trying to force his way up the ramp into Tear's base, but sentries and stalkers were able to hold easily.However, Tear’s moment in the sun was short lived as
MaruPrime quickly cleaned him up in the set afterwards. Maru opened up with hellions and medivacs, and with some amazingly narrow observer dodging, was able to do a ton of damage with his simultaneous drop and runby tactics. Tear used a cute warp prism gateway attack to hit back, but Maru was just too far ahead and closed out his victory with drop harass and a gigantic bio attack.The Prince of War
From there, the main event started. With 4 players left, Prime would send player after player trying to stop the monster that is
Leenock. Leenock was in strong form on the night as he tore through almost the entire Prime roster by himself. His first victim was Maru. Maru tried a 2 rax. It was denied and after that, everything went downhill for Maru as Leenock made a counter attack with speedlings that killed every marine, broke down Maru’s wall and forced a lift on the natural. By the time Maru was able to take it back, Leenock had burrowed some banes and killed even more scvs. With all of that damage, Maru could do nothing as Leenock rolled him over with broodlords. Prime tried to get lucky with
Terius in a ZvZ. It seemed like a pretty good choice considering how well Terius did in the beginning as he canceled Leenock’s third and kept his own while he stopped the muta harass. But as the game went on, Leenock seemed to get farther ahead as he double expanded, got a superior infestor count and traded his mutas for a good amount of drones. From there, Leenock would keep building on his infestor count and stay cost effective the rest of the game until Terius ran out of steam. In the third game, Leenock would play against
ByuN in one of the closer games of the night. He would go mutalisk ling/bane to keep Byun pinned on his three base. Byun held off the harass and moved out with a 2/2 timing. Leenock would counter-attack while holding off the timing, but would lose a base in the process. This would happen again and again until both players were left on 2 base as Leenock threaded the needle and transitioned to brood lords without dying.From there the hectic tempo of the game slowed down to a standstill as both players rebuilt their armies and tried to secure resources as their mains and naturals ran out. The overall exchanges left Byun in worse shape as he had lost too many orbitals, and Leenock's creep spread meant he wasn't taking a new base any time soon. There was some tense posturing as Byun's final death-ball army tried to get pick at the fringes of Leenock’s army while Leenock would try to kill the vikings and ghosts of Byun. It all came crashing down, however, as it took only one moment of weakness for Byun's entire army to get fungaled - including double digit vikings stacked onto one spot.
The last victim and player for Prime was
MKP. MKP looked like he fell into a time slip as he played his TvZ as if it the queen patch had never happened, going for mass marine-marauder-medivac off three bases. Leenock happily abused MKP as he ran lings into MKP’s undefended third over and over while killing MKP’s army in the middle with great creep spread and mass ling/banes. MKP would keep trying, but after the first major battle Leenock was too good to let such an advantage fall out of his hands. Future Outlook:
With FXO’s win here, they will meet Startale in the semi-finals. Startale is the strongest looking team in the entire league, having the deepest bench in the world. FXO on the other hand has one of the strongest triple threats with Gumiho, Tear and Leenock. While FXO has denied us the grudge match between ST and Prime, it will be the perfect stage for a new age rivalry.
The Two Young Stars of Zerg
Life has firmly established himself as the single best player in the world after winning both GSL and MLG. He has won both finals in a clutch fashion, being down both series 3-1 before making a comeback. His play has transcended the Zerg race and he is so dominant that it feels like Life can do any build and still come out ahead with just his unit control. His understanding of the Zerg race is so advanced that other top end players like Symbol and Nestea have tried to emulate his style in practice, but failed as it was too unique and hard to execute.
At the very beginning of SC2, Leenock was projected to be the very future zerg in SC2. With his age and talent, it seemed inevitable that someday Leenock would be standing on the podium holding a GSL trophy. Instead, Life beat him to it as GSL’s first royal roader. Life then met Leenock at MLG, where he won the final series 4-3. While he lost, Leenock has the distinct honor of being the second player to ever put fear in the heart of Life. Leenock has shown himself to the zerg with the most amount of builds of anyone in ZvT and ZvP. Like Life, Leenock can play any style perfectly and gives off an aura of invincibility when he plays against other players not named Life. With his ro8 in gsl, runner-up in MLG, and now 4-kill of Prime, Leenock is easily the second strongest zerg player in the world and arguably the second best player in the world.
Their genesis started in MLG with both of them heads and shoulders above the rest of the competition at that tournament. However, the rest of this month, Leenock will continue to challenge Life for the number 1 spot as they will each other in the Group of Death in GSL, the semi-finals in the GSTL and if both make it out they could very well be playing at the GSL finals in Las Vegas on top of a possible meeting in IPL 5. While Life is on top now, if he flinches or missteps even once, Leenock can and will take the throne away from him. With both players being so young, this will just be the start of a long fought rivalry between the two that will be fought until the end of their careers.
LG-IM
MVP
by Porcelina
The last day before the playoffs is upon us. With TSL, Startale and FXO already qualified, it falls to Incredible Miracle and MVP to fight it out for the last spot. As the season started off, LG-IM looked strong and was thought of as a heavy favorite alongside Startale, but it has been far from smooth sailing up until this point. MVP on the other hand has gone on the opposite trajectory, looking like they would have a rough season but gaining strength as time has passed on.
The Starters:
LG-IM_Seed vs. MVP.MonsterAs Prime did with
Creator last night, LG-IM will start out with their most consistent team league performer. While YongHwa as stolen the spotlight this particular season, it has mostly been against less than top-tier opposition. Meanwhile, Seed has captained and anchored his team to their IPL TAC championship last season, and recently made sure LG-IM would return to the finals with a four-kill over Evil Geniuses.Since his rise through the ranks in the Protoss hierarchy,
LG-IM_Seed has not only risen in skill, but his stature also looks changed. He looks self-assured, confident and calm at all times. It is legitimate to ask how much of his success depended on his mental state and demeanour; he did not look like the Seed of the past months in a shaky, early exit from the GSL this season.Starting out for MVP is
Monster. A little while ago, it looked impossible to separate Monster from his fellow MVP Zerg 
Sniper, with both players emerging as capable lieutenants under DongRaeGu. But while Monster has been walking in place, Sniper has been making progress, applying the coup de grâce all kill to a dying SlayerS, team and cemented his position as a Code S regular. While seeing teammates having success is not a bad thing, it must feel frustrating for Monster who for a while, looked to be the one destined to follow in DRG’s footsteps.In terms of the game that opens the series, it has to be stressed that Seed did not look good against Sniper in this season’s GSL. While Monster might not be at the same skill level currently and has been inactive as of late, it would be expected to see the same kind of game play unfold. What remains to be seen is whether Monster will display the same skills of setting up flanks and in patience as his compadre – and whether Seed can regain some of his composure. Monster has to be expecting a timing attack, either off two or three bases. At his best, Seed plays the matchup quite like Rain, who was able to take down the third MVP Zerg in the OSL finals relying heavily on three base play but hitting before brood lords. Seed is often quite quirky with his tech transitions, while Monster sometimes plays a more aggressive flavor of ZvP than what we usually see; the stage should be set for an interesting first game.
For the teams, LG-IM losing Seed early on will probably sting more than MVP losing Monster. While YongHwa has looked spectacular in just about anything not a Code A preliminary finals, Seed is still the most reliable player at his team’s disposal while Monster looks like the third best Zerg on MVP.
Roster: Incredible Miracle
Going into this season, LG-IM were the favorites. Seed had shown himself to be a champion, Mvp looked resurgent, the Protoss line-up had massive depth and even Losira had to be considered a strong player if no longer a potential Code S champions. However, finding ourselves in a world where Protoss has once again failed to impress anyone in the individual leagues, the perception is changing.
The team has some of the most talented Protoss players, which may turn out to be just as much of a curse as a blessing when it comes to facing MVP. While
Seed, First, YongHwa and MC all are spectacular players, the Protoss section has also been IM’s lone workhorse for some time. They are a team of champions, but their team league performance has always suffered from their champions not performing there as they do individually. And while this is in itself a problem, what is really scary for IM is that the main strength seems to lack a real edge when it comes to taking on Zerg. Seed must still held to be solid, MC is someone you never truly know about anymore, First has always found his biggest struggle in the matchup and YongHwa is still not quite tested against the best of the best.Between the two other races, the main contenders for spots would be the Terran trio of
Mvp, YoDa and Happy alongside the Zerg duo of NesTea and Losira. Mvp and Nestea are both often rested from team league appearances, but they also seldom shine when they are played. The remaining Terran factor is much more solid players than potential streaky ones, while Losira has failed to impress anyone for a long time. It is hard to see any realistic way for the non-Protoss squad to score more than two kills against the better Korean teams, and while this dependency looked like a non-factor during the height of Protoss domination around the time of WCS Korea, it now looks like a very likely cause of downfall.Roster: MVP
While LG-IM has had their individual champions, MVP took the different route. MVP was mostly the story of
DRG, the singles league underperformer who was unbeatable in team games. He has since become less of a polarized player, his team league performances not as dominating while he has gone on to find success in the GSL and OSL alike. However, it was his success in team leagues that built DongRaeGu, and it was in turn DongRaeGu who improved MVP.The team currently finds its strength mostly in its Protoss and Zerg line-ups. While
KeeN is still improving and may yet find himself consistent Code S form, there is no real depth in their Terran line. Both Noblesse and Dream are at best fairly solid, anonymous players, but not the kind you expect to get results against the best opposition. On the other hand, there is real strength and potential to be found within their Protoss squad. After the departure of Genius, who were their Protoss icon, the trio of finale, Vampire and TAiLS have risen to become more than part time Code A features. While Tails was the player with initial success, this season saw both finale and Vampire make their way into Code S. The trio also have an interesting combined skill set, with Tails the most prominent PvP sniper, Vampire a solid PvZ Protoss and finale a capable PvT’er.Ultimately, the true heart of the team lies in
DRG, Sniper and Monster. While DRG is certainly the most celebrated, Sniper and Monster have shows their prowess in team leagues before. Moreover, you can almost always expect at least one of the three to perform. DRG may no longer be the final boss like he was back in the heyday of SlayerS vs. MVP, but his skill cannot be doubted. Meanwhile, with Sniper looking like a stellar ZvP player overall as well as a natural ZvZ sniper and Monster known for his ZvT, they make a formidable trio in terms of covering for one another’s weaknesses.It has been some time since lacking a strong Terran base was a major disadvantage in the GSTL. In the past, MVP made up for their lack of depth and star players in the department by letting DRG all-kill for fun. Now, they look a more cohesive team, still lacking that strong Terran presence but with multiple players capable of making win streaks and sniping troublesome opposing players.
General outlook
It seems a certainty that Incredible Miracle will be relying heavily on seeing either Seed or YongHwa perform their patented team league magic. Their Terran component will struggle immensely with Monster, who needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. As such, the first game will set the pace in very important ways. Just as important as it is for IM to avoid losing Seed early on, getting rid of Monster will also broaden their options for whom to play. Meanwhile, if Monster performs for MVP, they will be freer to use a player such as Tails in PvP or finale in PvT. The significance of your snipers having a good day will certainly be evidenced.
In terms of pure depth, IM might have a small edge in some ways. In the long term, it is easier to trust First, YoDa and Happy to remain solid and consistent than it is to see Tails, finale and Vampire do the same. However, in an all-kill format, a player’s consistency can easily be overshadowed by those more prone to having excellent days.
The real scare for LG-IM is when comparing potential aces. Seed and YongHwa are both excellent players, but at this moment in time they look like they will struggle desperately against DRG and Sniper. Just like Leenock saved FXO yesterday and looked unkillable by any Prime player, both MVP Code S Zerg can take on this role. Killing one will be tough for LG-IM, killing both just might be more than the team can manage.
MVP 5 - 4 LG-IM
Writers: Porcelina and stuchiu.
Graphics: Pathy.
Editor: Waxangel.
![[image loading]](http://yfrog.com/scaled/landing/878/b3qmm.jpg)
