Table of Contents

STX 2 - 0 SKT
STX advance to face KT Rolster


SK Planet Proleague table and results at Liquipedia

By: Waxangel

Classic's hold and INnoVation's ace match victory carry STX to 2 - 0 win over SKT

Boxer's expression said it all. FanTaSy's gambit had succeeded, Classic was as good as dead, and SK Telecom T1 were headed their way toward a third and final match to decide their playoff series against STX Soul.

Except, things didn't play out that way. With his team down 2 - 3, his zealot cancelled, and being totally blind to Fantasy's incoming 2-rax cheese rush, Classic somehow found a way to stay calm and and crush the attack. The power of the mothership core proved to be all the difference, with time warp and photon overcharge being absolutely critical to Classic's successful defense.

For the second series in a row, INnoVation was charged with closing out the victory after one of his Protoss teammates gave STX Soul a lifeline. And again, INnoVation delivered, just the way you'd expect from the best player in the world. Even the PvT behemoth Rain couldn't help but look ordinary as INnoVation shut down his oracle opener and the templar-zealot-archon rush that followed. The counter-attack from INnoVation was overwhelming, and Rain had to give up the bitter GG that eliminated SKT and sent STX on to the next round.


Game one: Dear vs. PartinG

The first game of the series saw SKT take a 1 - 0 lead as PartinG made up for his loss earlier in the series. Although Dear took the slight build order advantage by opening blink stalkers against PartinG's phoenixes, he erred by moving out too soon with his stalkers and let an oracle do massive probe damage. There was not much left for Dear to do but go for a series of desperation blink-stalker attacks, but even with good blink micro, he could not pierce PartinG's immortal defense. After adding blink stalkers of his own, PartinG moved out to counter attack and collected the first GG of the night,

Game two: hyvaa vs. soO

Having lost to soO by going for an all-in on the previous night, hyvaa decided to change things up in the rematch by going for a daring double expand. What seemed like a suicidal ZvZ build on paper actually started to look like a good idea as soO showed no inclination of being aggressive, droning heavily while getting late gas. With both players going up to speed roaches at roughly similar times, hyvaa's gambit looked like it was going to pay off. However, soO managed to hit an absolutely perfect +1 roach timing, laying down a perfectly paved, 100% gapless overlord creep highway to largely negate hyvaa's reinforcement advantage. While Hyvaa was able to survive the first wave, he took too much drone damage to keep up on production. Once soO came knocking with another overwhelming force, hyvaa had to tap out.

Game three: INnoVation vs. Bisu

While many fans pegged INnoVation vs. Bisu to be the most lopsided match of the series, Bisu did a surprisingly good job for the first 9/10ths of the game. Minus a poor MSC giveaway, he parried INnoVation's harassment without taking too much damage and set himself up on a strong 3-base foundation. However, his first major defensive engagement went about as poorly as possible, with INnoVation's vikings sniping colossi for free and marauders laughing in the face of weak psionic storms. In the end, the result was what everyone expected as Bisu surrendered a map to STX.

Game four: Trap vs. Rain

Almost as if to mock Bisu for his previous loss, Trap went on to take the next match with a strategy that Bisu had failed with the other night: Nexus first PvP. Somehow, everything that went wrong for Bisu went right for Trap, as Rain opted to scout late and went for a relatively fast expansion himself (but not as fast as Trap). Happy with the way things were going, Trap even went as far as to go for a hidden base on another corner of the map, giving him four bases compared to Rain's three as they built up for a massive collision. Trap had no problem converting his resource advantage into an easy win, simultaneously wrecking Rain's main with a warp prism while crushing through his front with a zealot-archon-immortal army. For the second night in a row, the SKT ace surrendered in PvP, tying things up at 2 - 2.

Game five: Mini vs. BeSt

While SKT ace Rain disappointed again, team captain Best came through with another strong performance. Proxying a gateway had worked wonders against INnoVation on day one, and a proxy stargate was the key to his victory on day two. Mini was caught totally off guard by Best's proxy oracle, having most of his troops out trying to apply some pressure. With his economy wrecked by a single oracle, the best Mini could do was go for an ill-fated all-in before GG'ing out.

Game six: Classic vs FanTaSy

With a chance to close the match out and tie up the series 1 - 1, Fantasy went for one of Boxer's favorite strats in a two-rax proxy rush. However, the noble strategy worthy of an emperor was stopped in its tracks by a determined Classic, who was determined to force an ace match and bring out INnoVation. Despite a greedy start from Classic that saw him cancel his zealot after seeing there was no engineering bay block at his natural, he still managed to buy enough time for his stalker and nexus-cannon to clear out the multiple bunkers in his main. With all of his economy and SCVs invested into his all-in, Fantasy had nothing left in the tank and GG'd out of the match.

Ace Match: INnoVation vs. Rain

SKT couldn't have asked for a tougher test in an ace match with their entire season on the line. STX_INnoVation, the best player in the world, was looking stronger than ever with no signs of slowing down. SKT's Rain, despite being one of the best players in the Proleague and worthy ace for his team, faced an uphill battle against his opponent, trailing in head to heads by a 3 - 7 score.

Rain decided an oracle opener was what he needed to get an edge, but INnoVation's fast reactions and good preparation shut it down. With part one of his plan failing to bear fruit, Rain followed up into the second part of his strategy, going for a zealot-templar-archon attack off two bases. Unfortunately for Rain, INnoVation expertly sniffed the strategy out, having a ghost academy with time to spare and setting up a deathtrap of supply depots and bunkers at his choke.

Rain wisely backed off from committing to a bust, knowing there was no way through INnoVation's defenses. He took a belated third base while applying some pressure, hoping he could drag the game out and slowly overcome his disadvantage. However, INnoVation would give Rain no breathing room. With his ghost micro more than sufficient to counter Rain's templars, and colossi ages away from appearing on the battlefield, INnoVation moved out with his army for a game ending attack. Rain was helpless to resist as ghosts crippled the templar-archon backbone of his force, and conceded the last GG that ended SKT's season.

SKT now goes into the off-season thinking about what their team needs to succeed in 2014. As for STX, they can now look forward to a match against KT Rolster, a similarly constructed team with a Terran super-ace and a formidable supporting crew of Protoss players.

Writers: Waxangel.
Graphics: HawaiianPig
Editors: monk, Waxangel.