by stuchiu

The Path So far

Startale: To the very last match

Surprisingly, Startale comes in after having barely made the cut for the playoffs. At the start of the league they were one of the clear favorites to make it to the playoffs for two reasons. First they had a clear a super-ace in Life. At the beginning of the year Life was the best player in the world after winning the first MLG. Second, Startale had one of the deepest lineups going into the league.

Unfortunately for them, Life’s results and skills fell off mid-way through the league. While still one of the better players on the roster, he was no longer an auto-win card that Startale could rely on. Even worse, the format was a bo7 meaning they were one of the teams hurt by their inability to take advantage of their deep bench. This made StarTale’s qualification a close shave as they weren't certain of their spot until their final victory on the last day against LG-IM, where the two Terrans Hack and Bomber closed it out for them.

Going into the playoffs, Startale has a long road ahead of them as they start at the very bottom with Azubu. Getting into the playoffs was hard enough, but winning the championship will be harder still. But there is one thing they can be optimistic about. The format has changed to a best-of-nine and now Startale can show off their considerable depth.

Azubu: Rumors of our death have been greatly exaggerated

Coming in second to last is the ever mysterious Azubu. One day they are showering in money as they book four players for DreamHack. The next they cancel participation for three of them. The day after Azubu in Korea shuts down, the non-existent HQ in Germany takes over esports operations. Even the makeup of the team is strange as they gathered all of the teamless players they could find. Even their path to the playoffs was strange as they were the only team to lose to Prime, the worst team in the league.

But in the end, it's all kinda worked out. After a poor start in the regular season, they finished strong by qualifying for the playoffs with a 4 - 3 record. They even ended the regular season with a victory against the #1 team in MVP (A good victory when you consider they were down 3-1 and even the B team of MVP is incredibly strong). Of course, it wouldn't be Azubu if something wasn't a bit odd, and they had the most unlikely hero to thank in BBoongBBoong for their late runs. Once an important member of the 5 man band of Prime, B4 decided to try for a solo career. A non-factor during most of the season, BBoongBBoong went back to his Prime days for the final few matches, putting in clutch performances for his team.

The Rosters

Startale’s Wings

Startale’s roster is strong and deep. This allows them to play the team league in numerous styles depending on their opponent and opening match. For the most part, Startale has a Terran and Zerg heavy line up with players like Life, Bomber, Hack and Curious making up the bulk of their strength. These players will most likely be the only Terrans and Zergs used, though Sound has an outside chance of being a sniper. Startale can easily rotate between the players in most match-ups, making it hard to predict who they will send out next.

While Life is no longer a world destroyer, he is still strong enough to easily be a huge problem for any of the players on Azubu. Bomber could be used as the ace for Startale, but it is always a decent idea to send out the streakiest players early when the pressure is low and they could deal huge damage should they get hot. Hack and Sound are both adequate backups, and they have proven themselves recently with Sound doing well at both MLG and Red Bull while Hack has been a consistent contributor in the GSTL. Both have won the qualifier for WCS NA and are solid choices to deploy as early snipers if Startale wants to play a more reactive team league style.

In addition, Golden can be a good ZvT sniper if it's deemed that Life should be preserved for a different match. Golden has an aggressive ling-bane bust style making him a good counter for the more standard Terrans, which could make him a good counter pick against TOP, but not so much against the tank-first SuperNoVa.

And finally, the most important member of the team is Avenge. While he's not the star of the team, he fills an extremely important role on the team as their sole reliable Protoss after PartinG and Squirtle departed. Avenge has filled that gap admirably so far, and while his individual success hasn't met his predecessors, he has done more than his fair share of work in the GSTL. He has the most wins for his team at six, and has beaten several key players on opposing team.

Avenge has an aggressive style and enjoys sniping his opponents with cheeses and timings. While his mechanics aren't the best, he knows how to prioritize correctly and be efficient, and generally makes good decisions. The biggest problem with Avenge is that he is the only Protoss for Startale, making him a big target. While they have recently recruited some new blood in Balloon, it is unlikely that they will depend on him as he is still inexperienced. This means that the match will revolve around Avenge. Startale will have to be very careful about when they want to use them, and Azubu will be very keen to take him out quickly and be done with Protoss entirely. Startale will probably want to use Avenge as a super-sniper against a strong player like Symbol or SuperNoVa, but Azubu will surely have that in mind as well.

Azubu’s Outsiders

In contrast to Startale, Azubu’s core is much leaner. Beyond Symbol and SuperNova, Azubu generally rotates the rest of the roster in and out without much consistency. San, Sleep, GanZi, viOLet, B4 have all played, with Genius and VINES making cameo appearances.

The general strategy from Azubu for these team matches is to have Symbol carry the team, either closing it out or getting as many kills as possible early. At the times Symbol can’t close it out for Azubu, they send out another player from their roster and pray they can clean up. It's been surprisingly effective, as San finished off Startale and B4 three-killed MVP.

Both Symbol and Supernova are in the ro16 of Code S. Both have shown really strong games recently making them a strong duo to contend with. But beyond that, Violet has barely contributed at all. San and B4 have shown good results, but both players can be very hit or miss. San has an explosive strength to him, sometimes being ManZenith and other times bringing out SadZenith. B4 didn't do much until the very last match where he closed out against MVP and got the spot for his team.

The biggest problem of Azubu is that they don't have much real depth despite having a big roster. Are players like like Genius, InCa, Top, Eve and VINES really going to play in the playoffs after they have basically been non-factors in the regular season? With a roster of 12 players, 5 or 6 can basically be dismissed out of hand. The remaining roster is more predictable. Symbol and Supernova are the most dangerous players. B4 and San are streaky, capable of saving or ruining their team. viOLet was a powerhouse in WoL, but he isn't looking like his old self in HotS. Ganzi and Sleep are decent players, but will have a hard time contributing against the roster of Startale.

Overall Outlook

This season of GSTL is probably the first season in a long time where there has not been a true GSTL Ace player. In 2011 there were players like DRG, MMA, MKP. In 2012 we had Gumiho, Symbol and Yonghwa. But this season of GSTL, there has been no team in the top 5 that have been carried there largely through the efforts of just one player, making this the season where coaching and strategy counts the most. Because of this Startale has an inherit advantage over Azubu as they have a much larger group of players to choose from, giving them much more choices in how they want to play this match. While Azubu has all of the players they need to beat a Startale lineup, the problem is the strategic depth of Startale out shines Azubu. Beyond praying for Symbol to all-kill, Azubu’s strategy has been depending on their supporting cast getting hot instead of any strategic sniping. While they have the players to make that kind of approach work, it won't be enough against the strength of Startale.

Overall Prediction: Startale 5 - 4 Azubu