⇧ SCV Train (BBYB): Some legacies never die. GSL Champions may come and go, but the BitByBit is forever. Last night, the SCV train came crashing through the Gom studios as Terran players Labyrinth, Byun and Center all made it through their Ro48 matches with strong, well-timed SCV pulls.
SKT_LabyRinth came into the GSL was a complete unknown. The only thing known about him was that he was a trainee of SKT and that he had knocked out Bisu in the final stage of Code B to earn his spot. But he showed what he was made of as he 1/1/1'd to take down IEM Katowice champion LG-IM_First in consecutive games.
ByuNPrime vs. EG.Revival.RC was a much more contested series as both players would take turns trying to bust each other early in the game. Byun took the first game, holding off Revival's roach-bane bust. From there he went for the 'classic' BitByBit, performing the proxy 11/11 rax twice in a row. Revival executed well to survive the first time, but couldn't repeat his defense in the deciding game.
The final conductor of the SCV was Quantic.Center. After getting crushed by LG-IM_Seed's two base Templar rush in game one, Center looked to the heroism of ByuN and LabyRinth for inspiration. In the next two games, Center pulled a huge amount of SCVs off mining at around the 15 minute mark for massive Marine-Marauder-Medivac-SCV timings to send Seed into WoL retirement.
⇧ Terran vs. Terran (TVT): This has been a good season for TvT, with many of the best series coming in the Terran mirror, such as MKP vs. Keen and Taeja vs. Noblesse. Last night continued the trend with MaruPrime vs. MVP.Dream. It was an intense series as both players stuck to their styles, with Dream trying for more defensive macro based play while Maru opted for much more early aggression in his builds. It was a dynamic and very fast paced TvT, with Maru's spear eventually piercing Dream's shield in a 2 -1 victory.
There might be more great TvT's to come, as two rematches have been booked for the Ro32. Center vs. ByuN has the potential to be very good, while we all know Flash vs. Ryung can be awesome from their epic Up/Down last season. Speaking of Flash...
⇔ Flash (GOD): While KT_Flash defeated Samsung's Sola to move to the Ro32, it was an easy victory that didn't really affect his stock at all. He won in two straight up TvZ games against a less experienced, and probably very nervous opponent. Sola seemed to have a game plan worked out in his head, going for fast mutas into roaches in game one, but his execution just wasn't up to facing KT Rolster's ace. A typical Flash two-rax proxy ended the series in game two.
⇩ LG Incredible Miracle (LGIM): It was a rough night for LG-IM last night as all five of their players in Seed, First, Happy, ByuL, and Mvp were sent to Code B. Honestly, it’s been a rough GSL season overall for the IM team. They started with 5 players in Code S, but only Losira managed to advance. In Code A they are currently 2 for 7, with only Yonghwa and Yoda surviving the Ro48 thus far. Of the games last night, only Seed really put up a fight against his opponent, while the others fell listlessly. First was caught off guard by the 1/1/1. Happy lost to Killer’s two base all-ins. Byul got caught by bad build orders against Effort. Mvp looked okay in a game one loss where he barely missed his timing against soO, but was trounced by roaches in game two. With all of that in mind, IM stock is now at the lowest it has been since the beginning of 2012. Though, with most of their players having little left to do but prepare for HotS, you may want to start investing in them again come March...
End of an Era: The King of Wings ~ 2010 Oct. - 2013 Feb.
Last night, LG-IM_Mvp finally succumbed to his long struggle with his wrist injury. It has been a legendary two year run, but Mvp is now officially out of the GSL.
Mvp was, and still is, a very unique player. After his initial rise to the top of the world in 2011 with three GSL championships, the worsening pain in his wrists forced him to reinvent himself as a player. In 2011, he used superior mechanics to defeat his opponents. In 2012, he was using mind-games, build orders, and his unmatched calmness under pressure to beat opponents. During his finals runs in 2012, no could could say Mvp's mechanics were particularly remarkable. Rising stars like PartinG, Life, and TaeJa were heard to say they didn't see anything special in his play. But if there was one thing Mvp was better at than the rest of the world, it was winning. Though no one could fully understand how he pulled it off time and time again, Mvp came to represent the epitome of StarCraft 2, the one thing that every player and fan loves and respects more than anything else. Mvp came to represent victory.
At first glance, there's nothing particularly drawing about Mvp. He doesn’t have the showmanship of MC or Parting, wear heart on his sleeve like MKP, or play with the flair of Leenock or HerO. What Mvp does have is burning desire to win no matter the odds. No matter how badly Terran was doing, how poor his wealth was, or how badly he seemed to be outmatched by his opponent on paper, MVP would always try to find a way to win. Sometimes he would pull a 11/11 rax in the deciding game, other times he would invent a completely new build that would forever change the metagame. If there was only one player in all the world that would be remembered with SC2: WoL, it is Mvp. He is the player that won the most championships in the most competitive league in the entire world under conditions that would have been almost impossible for anyone else. Even though Mvp has fallen now, he will be back. The GSL is his kingdom, and he shall return.
With the WoL chapter of the GSL coming to a close, MVP.DongRaeGu, may have set the record for "Best Ro16 Group for the #1 Seed Ever." From his dominating Ro32 performances against Innovation and Hack, and his confident interviews after, there was no question that DongRaeGu wanted to play against Terrans. To get three of the five Terrans in the Ro16 in his group was a remarkable stroke of luck that he could not have expected.
Or was it? One could make the argument that when taking a Terran with the first pick, this was the expected chain reaction. In the present state of StarCraft II, there are virtually zero Terran players who would take a TvZ by choice. Once Life took PartinG, the only Protoss on the board, with the second pick of the night, it was no surprise that the Terrans preferred to prey on each other than try and pick the 'easiest' Zerg opponent. DRG picked Bomber, Bomber picked TaeJa, and TaeJa picked Innovation.
While everyone expected DRG to take a Terran with his first pick, his specific choice of player was somewhat puzzling. Why ST_Bomber, an immensely talented player who shook off inconsistency problems to put together one of the best three month runs of his career? After getting burned by picking Polt and Creator in previous group selections, one would have thought DRG would go with the safest opponent.
DRG's official explanation was that he wanted for Bomber to finish second in the group and be sent to the opposite side of the bracket, where he would clean up the remaining Protosses on his way to the finals. That's the kind of logic that's so convoluted that you could see DongRaeGu actually reaching that conclusion organically, but it's still simpler to think that DRG just considers Bomber the weakest TvZ player of the bunch. Where the viewers saw a great TvZ performance from Bomber in his games against Sniper in the Ro32, DongRaeGu might have seen vulnerability. Few people would know Sniper's ZvT game better than his teammate DRG, and instead of seeing the 0 – 2 scoreline, he might have seen the few adjustments that Sniper could have made to take an easy victory.
Even if DRG's choice of picking Bomber was the 'wrong' one, it won't matter as the two Terrans many thought were the best choices ended up in his group anyway. Innovation is definitely a strong Terran, but didn't look to be quite at DRG's level when they met in the Ro32. Once a TvZ master, TaeJa looked considerably hampered by injuries during his Ro32 games against Nestea, and he's been very vocal about his dislike of TvZ.
While DongRaeGu is the strong favorite to make it through this group in first place, there is one important precedent to keep in mind. Back in 2012's Season Two, DRG managed to get an all-Terran Ro32 group through a random draw. This was the season right after DongRaeGu had won the Code S championship, and was considered the best player in the world. Yet, in one of the biggest upsets of 2012, DongRaeGu lost to TheStC and TaeJa to be immediately eliminated from the tournament. So, while DongRaeGu deserves to be confident heading into this group, he should be cautious that it does not become overconfidence.
The Battle for Second?
Though Korean players frequently mask confidence with humbleness, it really does look like the Terran trio is resigned to fighting among themselves for the second place spot. While none of the three showed any outward confidence against DRG, they all seemed confident in their TvT ability, and not without reason. ST_Bomber came off a one sided 2 – 0 victory over Gumiho in the Ro32, finally figuring out and defeating an opponent who had his number for a very long time. Liquid`TaeJa, too, won an solid TvT victory in the Ro32, taking out the upstart Noblesse 2 – 1. While STX_INnoVation didn't have to face any Terrans in the GSL this season, he's been playing well at the Terran mirror in the Proleague with a 5 – 3 record. Even outside their most recent records, all three players have shown great TvT ability throughout their careers (even Bogus, in his half year playing SC2).
For Bomber, it's worth asking if momentum, stats, and recent performances really matter. Since he debuted, no one's really questioned his talent or ability to go up against the best players in the world. The issue has always been his unnatural tendency to fall apart, make bizarre decisions, and throw away leads. The last few months for Bomber have shown him play with remarkable consistency by his standards. As is the case for many of the "cursed" franchises in traditional sports, fans are simultaneously excited for what might be possible, and nervous about when things will inevitably go wrong.
After seeing Mvp get knocked out of Code A last night, one has to be worried for TaeJa. Mvp's wrist injury caused him to slowly but surely decline, and we're seeing the same thing happen to the Liquid Terran ace. TaeJa was known to practice a ton back when he was healthy, and having his practice time cut into has affected his play considerably. Fortunately for TaeJa, TvT is the match-up where players most easily retain their skill, so he still has a good shot at going to the Ro8.
With TaeJa and Bomber having their issues to deal with, that leaves Innovation as the surprise(?) favorite to make it through in second. Innovation has yet to hit the peaks Bomber or TaeJa have reached at their best, but there's really nothing to say against him. He's a very solid macro game player and has a good sense for how to use all-in builds in a multi-game series. Maybe he was a bit disappointing in the early going of the Proleague season, but since then he's bounced back and looks very much deserving of the Ace tag for STX Soul. Innovation might not be the sexiest pick to go through as second, but he is the safest.
My theory is that Bomber is going to crush everyone in his path to the finals, go up 3-0 and have a commanding lead in game 4, then fall apart and crush my hopes and dreams again.
It's insane about LG-IM. I hadn't even noticed how badly they did in Code S as a whole (4 out of 5 got 4th in Ro32), which meant 8 of their 9 players were playing in Code A Ro48. You have the imagine the coaches were pretty prepared for disappoinment. But this? If Nestea loses next week the only LG-IM players in the GSL will be Losira, Yongwha, and Yoda. I mean, holy crap.
1. Loved the passage about Mvp. No one can doubt he was the best player in WoL and the most consistent throughout his WoL career.
2. I think it is possible that DRG picked Bomber for the revenge factor, as Bomber defeated the mini-DRG (Sniper) in ro32.
3. Bomber will make it out of this group. I do not state that Bomber's law is completely dead. However, the corollary is saving itself for the ro4. (Bomber's Law: Bomber will always disappoint.
Corollary to Bomber's Law: If Bomber does not disappoint, it will be in order to set up a bigger disappointment later.)
Remember that Mvp can still play in Code A next season, and keep his GSL streak alive, if he makes it through the prelims. Though, it's still sad to see his final WoL match end in a loss.
Nice write-up about Mvp. I hope now that his WoL tournaments are over, he will take some time before (or even after) the release of HotS to get his health good.
Cant wait to see all the "Return of the King" cheerfuls once he returns to a GSL (or any!) finals :-)
It was sad to watch Mvp go down. The King is dead.
It's worth noting that EG had almost as bad a night as IM. With Revival getting sent back to code B their entire lineup has now been swept out of the GSL in the span of a few days, with Stephano the last holdout. Pretty disappointing for a team many fans had high hopes for.
On February 07 2013 10:06 Happygreek wrote: It's insane about LG-IM. I hadn't even noticed how badly they did in Code S as a whole (4 out of 5 got 4th in Ro32), which meant 8 of their 9 players were playing in Code A Ro48. You have the imagine the coaches were pretty prepared for disappoinment. But this? If Nestea loses next week the only LG-IM players in the GSL will be Losira, Yongwha, and Yoda. I mean, holy crap.
I think MC stole all of their ablity since he moved into the LG-IM training house. Which. Is. Awesome.
Sad to see mvp lose, kind of wish he'd just take a break, get his injuries fixed and come back in like half a year or even longer if that's what it takes to recover, yeah he'd have a fair bit of catching up to do but seriously its mvp, he could totally do it.
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be wrist that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
On February 07 2013 10:23 JunkkaGom wrote: All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be wrist that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
On February 07 2013 10:23 JunkkaGom wrote: All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be wrist that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
The King of the world of Wings, The one who has surpassed all odds; It took an unbearable pain of the wrist, To shake him enough to be lost. But though his time as King has come to an end, It is setting up for an even better King to come in; The king of kongs, his best friend, Its time for his era to begin.
A story of triumph like no other, from the king of marines; We all threw him in the gutter, After he lost to MVP. Though an MVP is not he now, He will come back stronger and reclaim his friends crown; The King of marines time his drawing near, His inspiration to make the old King proud.
But he is only keeping the seat warm, Just enough until the real King comes to attack; And when he comes he will once again go to war, And then we will all chant the King is back.
On February 07 2013 10:23 JunkkaGom wrote: All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be wrist that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
On February 07 2013 10:23 JunkkaGom wrote: All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be wrist that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
I don't think DRG is going to pass this group. He will run it over. Then back up, and run it over once again. 2nd place is pretty hard to predict, all of them are good TvTs.
Bomber and DRG advance! It's the season that Bomber doesn't disappoint! (Bomber vs MKP in the finals would be amazing!!!) and of course having a TvT to close out the WoL era would be awesome.
Get well soon MVP, I hope to see him crushing GSL in the future.
It will be a huge upset if DRG fails to make it out of the group. His ZvT is excellent, he already crushed innovation once, and his form is back.
After that I think it's a complete coin flip, it all comes down to TvT and it's impossible to predict which terran will advance. Taeja is the best on paper but he's injured. Bomber has looked strong recently but has never delivered on his potential in the past. Innovation is solid but unimpressive. It's injury vs inconsistency vs indistinction.
On February 07 2013 13:01 MysterySC wrote: <3 MVP also DRG picked bomber because bomber is the worst GSL terran period.
What? You cant be much more wrong.
Bomber is excellent but DRG predicted that Bomber wouldnt pick a Zerg given thats Bombers worst matchup, and DRG also hates playing ZvZ the most so he created a very comfortable group for him.
Quite depressing reading about Mvp. Really hard to believe our time with WoL is nearly over and Mvp has been a humongous part of it. I hope he comes back in full force for HotS.
On February 07 2013 10:23 JunkkaGom wrote: All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be wrist that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
This is beautiful John. King Mvp will be back, I'm sure of it
my prediction is that Bomber makes it the finals. In a gut wrenching TvT where each match is back and fourth and takes 40 minutes a piece. he will make a stupid mistake like cancel his CC and lose in 5 minutes
On February 07 2013 10:23 JunkkaGom wrote: All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be wrist that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
This is the greatest thing i've ever read. Too perfect. MVP</3 i await the day of your return
What Mvp does have is burning desire to win no matter the odds. No matter how badly Terran was doing, how poor his wealth was, or how badly he seemed to be outmatched by his opponent on paper, MVP would always try to find a way to win
By the way, is there any article giving details and precise sources about Mvp's wrists ? I've always heard that Mvp was affected by it any time he lost a game, but I actually don't know about how bad it is really.
Can anyone in Korea do a quick interview with MVP please! BTW he's truly live up to that name, the most valuable player ever in WoL era. Long live the king.
People may disagree but I still see MC being the face of WoL. Sure MVP is the face of GSL but MC time and again showed that he really is the boss. Winning the most money in WoL obviously helps out that fact and it will only increase that much more when MC advances to the next round of GSL.
On February 07 2013 15:34 NathanaelOlsen wrote: People may disagree but I still see MC being the face of WoL. Sure MVP is the face of GSL but MC time and again showed that he really is the boss. Winning the most money in WoL obviously helps out that fact and it will only increase that much more when MC advances to the next round of GSL.
tbh if MVP wanted to go outside of Korean earlier he would have made much more money than MC. Sometimes it's not just about money you know. MC got his slump for so long and he hasn't won GSL for 2 years already. He got kicked out of GSL and stay in code A for quite long as well. To me MC is the best protoss but other than that he's definitely not the face of WoL.
On February 07 2013 15:34 NathanaelOlsen wrote: People may disagree but I still see MC being the face of WoL. Sure MVP is the face of GSL but MC time and again showed that he really is the boss. Winning the most money in WoL obviously helps out that fact and it will only increase that much more when MC advances to the next round of GSL.
tbh if MVP wanted to go outside of Korean earlier he would have made much more money than MC. Sometimes it's not just about money you know. MC got his slump for so long and he hasn't won GSL for 2 years already. He got kicked out of GSL and stay in code A for quite long as well. To me MC is the best protoss but other than that he's definitely not the face of WoL.
This is not actually a fact but I believe I have heard from casters that MC is the Korean who has attended the most tournaments, won a lot and consistently brought in 4th to 1st places, done well in quite a few GSL seasons (though obviously not as much as MVP), started WoL and now it looks like he may end WoL strong with how well he's done against players like Leenock, Curius and Jaedong. MC is also very well known due to his ceremonies, increasing his likeness to the foreign audience and Korean as well (dressing as the undertaker helps as well). MVP is great; no question about that but as is shown now he hasn't been performing nearly as well as he's done in the past.
Like I said, people will disagree but for anyone to say that MVP is the king of WOL can be up for debate. As I, at the very least, think that MC has a strong case to be named King of WOL.
On February 07 2013 10:23 JunkkaGom wrote: All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be wrist that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
Ahahaha epic rendition of the LOTR poem. Wrist being the operative change lol
is there anything besides rest that mvp can do for his wrists? i mean, im always hearing how professional baskeball/football players get surgery to fix stuff. does that not apply here?
This group is so perfect for a Terran like me! We're atleast guaranteed 2 TvZ and 2 TvT's, then 3 of one of the matchups. Only worry i have is that Bomber's law will step into effect today T_T. No matter what happens i think i'll be pretty satisfied with the result, as i like every player.
Farewell MVP, I never liked him and I hated the manner in how he won the finals vs Squirtle (and even go to the finals) but one must respect him for what he achieved. Best of luck on the path to recovery.
As for group A, I don't even feel its worth watching, excited for the other groups tough. (I take it back game 2 between DRG and Bomber is/was amazing)
<3 LOTR quote, it is perfect
Edit: Just want to point out how the 3 titans used to be Nestea, MVP and MC. Imo MC has been the most consistent and is still going strong, he only really won less when protoss were not winning at all and he did the most travelling out of those three (perhaps everyone) by far which would not have helped. I don't hold that against him.
It seems the Terran king has fallen as has the Zerg Professor but the Protoss president is still in office.
On February 07 2013 10:23 JunkkaGom wrote: All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be wrist that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
So eloquent John, thank you for this. Truly, truly thank you. I almost want to print this up and frame it.
wow only one player receiving the nestea award in wol... sad to see mvp fall out the gsl, but honestly due to the hype about his neck injury i thought this was gonna happen in 2012 already. does anybody know wether it is a permanent condition he has to live with, or if he can recover if he'd, say play less?
also of course: bomber's law will apply! remember the good old days, when he was 2:0 in- i wanna say ro4 (maybe 8) and you could literally feel his cockiness? only to go down 2:3 and the energizer byunny was born (i think it was byun, not entirely sure).
I think it is one of the hardest groups to pick, even DRG in my opinion isn't that certain. When each player is that good it's too hard to call. Unless i am mistaken they have each reached the semis or higher, and you could make an argument that they all have enough talent to win a GSL
On February 07 2013 10:23 JunkkaGom wrote: All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be wrist that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
Amazing. The Mvp part makes me cry. I witnessed his SC2 WOL journey since MLG Anaheim 2011 and I was a big fan. I have seen the times when he was the best in the world and the times when nobody thought he could win. I witnessed when he beat people in the finals of GSL with amazing macro and when he beat them with 2 rax all-ins.
battle for second? Yep. It just happened to be the opposite players that you predicted =P (btw my picks were honestly the same tho so i was way off too =P )
On February 07 2013 10:23 JunkkaGom wrote: All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be wrist that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
This is beautiful John. King Mvp will be back, I'm sure of it
No doubt it fits with the little changes, but know that the original was written by the master himself, J. R. R. Tolkien
On February 07 2013 21:39 RedTrotsky wrote: Does anyone the name/artist of the remix of "Jungle is massive" they are playing in between the matches sometimes?
Danny Byrd - Blaze The Fire (Rah!) (feat. General Levy) [Sub Zero Remix]
EPT
First <Bel'Shir Vestige> 
LabyRinth
Sola
That guy is something else.
![[image loading]](http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c146/neoghaleon55/ForDRG-1.jpg)
