Heading into this series, sOs would have to be considered the favorite. Flying started out his SC2 career on a higher note, qualifying for OSL and delivering one of the best ceremonies we've seen in Wings of Liberty, pulling out dishes and mimicking washing them after a victory against former Brood War B-teamer Parting. That would be the peak of his success in Wings, going on a heavy slump after his mild triumphs, losing continually in Proleague until the coach finally pulled him from the main roster. He had made a bit of a comeback lately, but it wasn't enough to change the narrative that was set coming in.
sOs, the undisputed ace of the Protoss line in Woongjin Stars, took care of business against his teammate, losing a map in the process, but still showing his mettle by taking the series 2-1. None of the games were anything of note, and this won't go into the backlog of GSL series you need to watch, but it did continue to prove that sOs is a player that should be a factor in Code S next season if his Wing of Liberty skills can transition over. Flying, on the other hand, will need to go back to the drawing board and get through the difficult Up and Down matches.
Proxy was the word of this series, Gumiho using proxy factories, raxes, and even starports to take the victory over Prime's Byun. Taking a page out of Byun's TvP playbook, Gumiho went for a hellion drop in the second game, roasting Byun's economy and not allowing his opponent to get into his prepared builds. Known for going into the late game, his mech and sky Terran play, you would have expected Byun to go for the early game kill strategies, but Gumiho demonstrated his flexibility, being able to kill Byun off in two relatively quick games.
With Gumiho's Wings of Liberty career now over, we can now start to look at how he compares in the history books. While he never won a GSL, he did get close in the first season of 2012, losing in the semifinals to the eventual champion DongRaeGu, losing three games in a row after going down 0-2. Never being someone to travel to foreign tournaments, his legacy in Wings will be remembered as the king of GSTL, almost single handily winning two GSTL grand finals on his own, beating Slayers and MVP with eight kills in those two finals. He might not rank in the top five Terran all-time in WoL, those spots already taken by Mvp, MMA, MarineKing, Polt and Taeja, but you could argue he is the sixth or seventh best in the history of Wings of Liberty.
Chinese Emperor Lure, having already eliminated KeSPA players Effort and Jaedong in this season's Code A, wasn't able to knock out his teammate and third big name in DongRaeGu, losing in a somewhat close 1-2 match. Implementing hydras in his first game, DongRaeGu hit Lure at his third and was able to take the game with his overwhelming army, popping Lure's phoenix and slithering slowly with his Hydras to a victory. Lure was able to take the second game with a large timing attack consisting of immortals, sentries, and blink stalkers, Only one win away from picking up his third straight major upset, the Chinese Starleague winner wasn't able to make it into Code S, DongRaeGu putting his foot down and getting back to where he belongs in Code S with strong infestor play.
Now that DongRaeGu is also done with Wings of Liberty, we can look at where his place sits in the rankings of players. With more foreign event victories than Nestea, but two less GSL championships, you would have to put him in the top three alongside Nestea and Life for the best Zergs in Wings history. If you weigh foreign tournaments heavily, then there is a case that DongRaeGu was the best Zerg in Wings, but with only one GSL title and a runner-up spot against MMA in the Blizzard Cup, it's hard to not give Nestea the honors as the Zerg that defined this edition.
In the best series of the night, the prodigy Life took on the the now team-less aLive, taking a predictable 2-0 victory against the once highly sought after Terran. It was only a year ago that aLive was top of the world, getting a semifinals in Code S and a major foreign championship at IPL, getting on a new team Fnatic and on the verge of being possibly the best Terran player on the planet. That never came to fruition, aLive's play dropped heavily through lack of practice, he dropped out of GSL for a while and performed badly in foreign tournaments. With his departure from Fnatic, he's been on the upswing once more, getting to the third stage of Code A, but getting the unlucky draw of running into Life to make it into Code S.
aLive made a fight of it, bringing both matches to the late game, but was unable to keep up with Life. Not having any anti-air in the first game, Life transitioned into a large amount of mutas, flying across the map and killing off aLive before he could get his defense up. The second game was more of the same, Life outmaneuvered his Terran opponent and grabbed his spot back into Code S. Finishing his Wings of Liberty career in GSL, with IPL6 still to come, Life in only a short amount of time has made himself one of the three most notable Zergs in the Wings of Liberty time line. Two GSL championships, a MLG and an Iron Squid under his belt, Life was the best Zerg in the closing moments of Wings.
The first match of the night looks like it could be a coin-flip, with Team 8's TRUE going up against AZUBU's BboongBboong. TRUE's form in the match-up was hard to judge coming into his last match, he beat Crazy and that is the only real result he has in the match-up, with his two Proleague ZvZs both being losses. Considering this and the KeSPA players' aptitude for preparation, it's very possible that he could be coming into this series well-prepared after having studied a lot of VoDs, but it's also possible that him narrowly edging out Crazy accurately showed his skill level in the match-up; it's all very hard to say without having more games to judge from.
But where TRUE is hard to analyse and hasn't played many games, Bboong is the opposite. He has played several series against high-level Zergs recently. He crushed Hyun in Code S, and managed to take a game off RorO (who then proceeded to beat Life) in the Round of 16. Had he been matched against any Zerg other than RorO, he might very well have gotten through that group or at least made a statement by getting to the Winners' Match. In either case, Bboong's the clear favorite in this series. It is very possible that TRUE shows up having improved further, but there is no reason to believe that a player with "Code S-level" ZvZ shouldn't beat a Zerg who has been mediocre at best.
The second ZvZ of the night is another eSF – KeSPA showdown, as Losiracat goes up against a player just as eager to kill fun as Sniper – soO. Not only did he knock Mvp out of GSL completely, he went on to stomp more MVP as he beat Killer in the next round, potentially stopping the MVP wise man's comeback entirely by sending him to the Up&Downs. He must be considered the underdog in this match-up as well, as he goes up against a third very likable player in the third round. Losira, a former GSL finalist, fell in the Round of 16 of Code S after losing a hilariously long and extremely close series to Gumiho and then getting eliminated by a fully rested MC who even had time to take a nap while Losira and Gumiho duked it out.
Both of these players have won their most recent games against Zerg, with Losira beating Symbol and DRG in the Up&Downs, and soO beating Shine, Savage and YoungJoo in Proleague. Aside from DRG, none of these players are known for their intimidating ZvZ, which puts a small question mark over this match-up as well. With the risk of repeating myself, KeSPA players are known for their preparation and there is no telling what the SKT Zergs can whip together for soO. Losira on the other hand, has equally good or better team mates on IM. Nestea, Byul, Ragnarok and true will all be eager to see their team mate reach Code S again.
All in all, I think Losira is the heavy favorite here. He has shown generally better play across match-ups, and he beat DRG not too long ago which is a considerable feat by any standard. With team mates like the one he has, the preparation LG-IM and Losira can bring to the table should be more than enough to match SKT's and soO's.
Another LG-IM is scheduled to play tonight as the newly signed Squirtle gets to play the Samsung KHAN version of Shine. Squirtle played a very strange series against Soulkey in the Round of 16, where questionable decision making put him in bad situations time and again only to be (almost) saved by very impressive battle control and general micro. He did end up falling eventually after his base was ravaged by a scouted but undefended attack, but not before showcasing the kind of micro that sets him apart from many other Protoss players.
For Shine, this match is perhaps the worst he could have hoped for. Though he did beat Huk 2-0 quite recently, he has never beaten a player of Squirtle's caliber in ZvP. Assuming Shine watched Squirtle against Soulkey in Code S, Shine will know that his best chances lie with all-ins. Baneling busts and early pools appear to be a Squirtle's weakness, and if Shine has picked up on that, it will be his best shot at winning this series. But, given the fact that Squirtle almost won a game where his expansion was ravaged before it could yield any profit simply on the back of stellar micro, Shine looks outmatched in this series.
The last match in Code A is fittingly also the most hyped one, as the Ultimate Weapon plays Rain – WCS Asia champion and GSL semifinalist, for the final direct seed into Code S. This is it, for both players. The Rain hype train was derailed completely as he forfeit his Code S spot to go to Dallas and then got eliminated by Dream in Code A, and this is his best chance at a comeback given the terrifying nature of the Up&Downs. For Flash, he has been in the Up&Downs twice, and fallen on head-to-head records both times. In his Ro32 interview, he once again pointed out just how intent he is on advancing to Code S, and this sets the stage for a truly great match, with high stakes for both players.
Although Rain isn't getting as much hype as he used to, and doesn't look as dominant as he once did, he is still most certainly a force to be reckoned with. His last 5 games were all victories as he beat Keen convincingly in the latest round and sKyHigh, Taeja and Reality in Proleague. Flash's best match-up hasn't been quite as convincing recently, with losses to Bong, Argo and Flying. But Flash has been known to fall off somewhat in preparation for individual leagues, and with how badly he seems to want Code S, there is a distinct possibility that he has been practicing almost exclusively on the GSL maps.
All in all, this match can most certainly go either way. Both players have a lot of motivation and are likely to be very focused on this match. Both players have strong records in the match-up, and both have shown that they can be absolutely terrifying opponents across all match-ups.
In the end, I'm going to give this to Flash with a very, very narrow 2-1. This match is a tossup if there ever was one, and with the level of play both of these guys have brought out from time to time, it's going to come down to their form tonight and whatever specialised builds and strategies they might bring to the table. SKT has been known to focus a lot on Proleague whereas Flash has often gotten more practice time for individual leagues, and that's more or less his sole advantage coming in to this series.
I'm surprised you give the edge to Flash, hes recent tvps have been pretty bad (I barely even count his game vs JYP a gage at anything, that was just a bad game)
On February 27 2013 11:27 suicideyear wrote: Poor aLive... On a good streak and runs into the Life woodchipper.
He did got some good practice out of those matches tho, and there is no reason he couldnt make it through U/D being (once again) one of the favorites there...(I do hope he gets HerO )
What bothers me is that up to this point no decent team had made him offers yet, and I would be seriously pissed if he ends up in coL or WW or smth as he still has potential to become a top 5 terran in the right environment
On February 27 2013 11:27 suicideyear wrote: Poor aLive... On a good streak and runs into the Life woodchipper.
What bothers me is that up to this point no decent team had made him offers yet, and I would be seriously pissed if he ends up in coL or WW or smth as he still has potential to become a top 5 terran in the right environment
Have to agree. aLive has shown some great play in the past, and I'd love to see him on a top-tier Korean team where I feel he can get the most out of his ability. In the right training environment he's a tough player to beat.
On February 27 2013 11:27 suicideyear wrote: Poor aLive... On a good streak and runs into the Life woodchipper.
He did got some good practice out of those matches tho, and there is no reason he couldnt make it through U/D being (once again) one of the favorites there...(I do hope he gets HerO )
What bothers me is that up to this point no decent team had made him offers yet, and I would be seriously pissed if he ends up in coL or WW or smth as he still has potential to become a top 5 terran in the right environment
It'd be great to see him on KT. More Kespa teams need to follow SKT's role by signing highly skilled players to improve the quality of their practice sessions.
I think DRG, NesTea and Life were the three best zergs in WoL, but I don't think you can compare them or say which was better, because NesTea peaked a long time ago against a bunch of different players that aren't around today. I think they all have a case.
Hopefully Flash can win against Rain! It would be awesome to see and I'm sure his interview would reflect that lol. Squirtle and Losira have good odds in their favour as well, hard to tell for B4 and True though.
On February 27 2013 11:27 suicideyear wrote: Poor aLive... On a good streak and runs into the Life woodchipper.
He did got some good practice out of those matches tho, and there is no reason he couldnt make it through U/D being (once again) one of the favorites there...(I do hope he gets HerO )
What bothers me is that up to this point no decent team had made him offers yet, and I would be seriously pissed if he ends up in coL or WW or smth as he still has potential to become a top 5 terran in the right environment
Watch as he ends up on LG-IM. At this point I wouldn't even be surprised lol....
Wait, what time is this starting? Wiki says 18:00, which translates to 6am EST, but I remember GSL always started at 4. It's also not on the upcoming events section, so I can't verify D:
Considering this and the KeSPA players' aptitude for preparation
With the risk of repeating myself, KeSPA players are known for their preparation and there is no telling what the SKT Zergs can whip together for soO.
This is a little bit strange to say when in fact the kespa players aren't practicing at all more or less for GSL (like Soulkey who said that he had actually never played on Bel'Ashir (?) before his ro16 game on it lol). Read their interviews, again and again they say that they only get to practice for these games the night before the match. And to suggest that the other team mates would help them prepare as if it was an OSL finals is kind of weird.
If anything it is the other way around. The KeSPA players are the favorites here imo but the GSL players can make upsets because of superior preparation!
Considering this and the KeSPA players' aptitude for preparation
With the risk of repeating myself, KeSPA players are known for their preparation and there is no telling what the SKT Zergs can whip together for soO.
This is a little bit strange to say when in fact the kespa players aren't practicing at all more or less for GSL (like Soulkey who said that he had actually never played on Bel'Ashir (?) before his ro16 game on it lol). Read their interviews, again and again they say that they only get to practice for these games the night before the match. And to suggest that the other team mates would help them prepare as if it was an OSL finals is kind of weird.
If anything it is the other way around. The KeSPA players are the favorites here imo but the GSL players can make upsets because of superior preparation!
Considering this and the KeSPA players' aptitude for preparation
With the risk of repeating myself, KeSPA players are known for their preparation and there is no telling what the SKT Zergs can whip together for soO.
This is a little bit strange to say when in fact the kespa players aren't practicing at all more or less for GSL (like Soulkey who said that he had actually never played on Bel'Ashir (?) before his ro16 game on it lol). Read their interviews, again and again they say that they only get to practice for these games the night before the match. And to suggest that the other team mates would help them prepare as if it was an OSL finals is kind of weird.
If anything it is the other way around. The KeSPA players are the favorites here imo but the GSL players can make upsets because of superior preparation!
Did you watch Flying vs Stephano?
Actually I think Elroi has a good point, the kespa players are known for their marathon practice sessions for Proleague and having little time leftover for GSL. The ESF players on the other hand for most of them GSL is the only thing to prepare for.
I think we saw a bit of that in Innovation-Symbol where Innovation I think would've beat Symbol if they had met in an open tournament like IPL but Symbol prepared a lot of great builds and scouted his opponent very well, so that he even felt comfortable opening, I believe, two games with 3 hatch before pool, and stealing game 5 on icarus with a very sneaky map-specific nydus all-in. Innovation on the other hand basically came with the intention to play standard every game and win with his superior standard play.
I can't quantify it, but I definitely have felt that the GSL games I've watched that the Kespa players have tended towards safe, standard, conservative play, especially in code A, which is how you'd play if you didn't have much time to prepare or scout your opponent.
PS: I did watch Flying-Stephano and yes Flying came in with two really great builds and sniped Stephano. His Phoenix build was so good that Yonghwa straight up copied it the next day and stole a game off Leenock in exactly the same way (and same map I'm pretty sure.) I wish MC had tried it against Roro in the ro8, then we might not be talking about the extinction of the Protoss race :S
Considering this and the KeSPA players' aptitude for preparation
With the risk of repeating myself, KeSPA players are known for their preparation and there is no telling what the SKT Zergs can whip together for soO.
This is a little bit strange to say when in fact the kespa players aren't practicing at all more or less for GSL (like Soulkey who said that he had actually never played on Bel'Ashir (?) before his ro16 game on it lol). Read their interviews, again and again they say that they only get to practice for these games the night before the match. And to suggest that the other team mates would help them prepare as if it was an OSL finals is kind of weird.
If anything it is the other way around. The KeSPA players are the favorites here imo but the GSL players can make upsets because of superior preparation!
Did you watch Flying vs Stephano?
Yes. What's your point?
Flying won through better multi-tasking and execution... In his interview he said he didn't have much time to practice for the game and didn't prepare any specific strategies. And he sure didn't skip PL to practice for GSL, like Stephano...
For the first time, you've advanced to the third round of Code A with today's victory. How do you feel?
I am so glad that I was able to beat a player like Stephano who is known for being good at ZvP even though I didn't get a lot of practicing done. My next opponent will be sOs and I hope to have a good match with him.
You were able to win because you responded to his strategies. Where did you put your focus on?
I studied Stephano's VODs as I pondered about which strategy would be the best to use against him but I just ended up deciding what to do as I was playing against him.
My point is that KeSPA players, especially those on teams that get by in Proleague even without one of their strong players (mostly Woongjin), are very good at preparing. It may be that the eSF players put their focus mostly on GSL, but it is quite obvious that the KeSPA players are very good at preparing themselves. Even if they do not have ten team mates that want to practice with them for their GSL matches, most of the A-teamers know very well how to analyse and create tailored strategies and can get that done well enough on their own - whether it is a week in advance or just the night before. Some (mostly those who get into Code S) eSF players are just as good at preparation themselves, but not every one of them.
It may be that some of them say that they do not practice for GSL (from a strictly personal perspective, I don't think that's true - but my opinion on the matter is irrelevant), but these matches most certainly matter to them - many of the top KeSPA players repeatedly make it clear that they want to get to Code S no matter what, which makes me doubt that they "don't practice".
I guess in ZvZ, it might not be possible to engineer as specific strategies as in non-mirror match-ups, in which case preparation matters less and other factors become more important, but overall I think it's silly to say that the KeSPA players won't prepare whenever they can - because they've proven to be quite good at it.
Hitman vs. TY in Proleague from a while back comes to mind. Though it was Proleague which is the main focus of most players, it's a very good example of how a strategy can be created to take out a specific player on a specific map. We have no way of knowing how long it actually takes to plan out a strategy like that, but if it doesn't steal away more than an evening or two from Proleague practice, I can imagine it being commonplace; no matter what they say in interviews.
On February 27 2013 18:25 opterown wrote: you also hear very often that nonkespas prepare for their matches just on ladder, which is hardly specific preparation haha
Also true.
All in all, I think the players (eSF and KeSPA) lie about how they practice, at least sometimes.
On February 27 2013 18:25 opterown wrote: you also hear very often that nonkespas prepare for their matches just on ladder, which is hardly specific preparation haha
Also true.
All in all, I think the players (eSF and KeSPA) lie about how they practice, at least sometimes.
This is probably partially true given that it is always better for the KeSPA players to say that they are focusing on the team leagues than the individual leagues because team moral is so important. But at the same time I am almost completely certain that the KeSPA players would do incredibly much better in GSL if they valued it a little bit higher and practiced more. And I don't think GSL is good for measuring their skill. In order to do that you'd have to watch PL.
Thx for the write up btw, just noticed it was you who did it.
On February 27 2013 18:25 opterown wrote: you also hear very often that nonkespas prepare for their matches just on ladder, which is hardly specific preparation haha
Also true.
All in all, I think the players (eSF and KeSPA) lie about how they practice, at least sometimes.
This is probably partially true given that it is always better for the KeSPA players to say that they are focusing on the team leagues than the individual leagues because team moral is so important. But at the same time I am almost completely certain that the KeSPA players would do incredibly much better in GSL if they valued it a little bit higher and practiced more. And I don't think GSL is good for measuring their skill. In order to do that you'd have to watch PL.
Thx for the write up btw, just noticed it was you who did it.
I think OSL, traditionally being the individual tournament the KeSPA players value the highest, will be the best place to judge the skill of these players whenever it comes back around. It may be as you say, that they do not give GSL their everything, but Proleague is also very different considering the format and blind picks and, partly, different maps.
Sad for SKT1.Rain ... But Flash showed an impressive multitasking (especially Game 1 ...) where he just Dropped everywhere, Macroed like a freakin' monster. Flash is gettin' better & Better and that should scare a lot of people. KeSPA inc. Baby. Next to beat everyone, FanTaSy & Bisu ^^.
EPT
sOs <Neo Planet S> 
ByuN <Cloud Kingdom> 
DongRaeGu
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