For the majority of the season, there was never any question as to whether Woongjin would make the playoffs. Woongjin dominated the WoL half-season through the sheer power and depth of their lineups, with long-time regulars free, Light, Soulkey and ZerO receiving some well-needed help from players who were less prominent in the Brood War era but proved themselves to be deadly in StarCraft II. sOs is the first and brightest shining new star on Woongjin Stars, but Bravo and occasionally even the most inexperienced rookies have provided well-needed support whenever Woongjin has needed it. In a format like Proleague, depth is vital and Woongjin more than any other team (rivaled only by STX toward the end of the regular season) could field a six-man team full of competent and reliable players.

The Lineup

The most consistent contributor to Woongjin's successes is Soulkey. Transitioning from a top-tier BW Zerg into a top-tier Zerg competing for and winning championships in Starcraft II, Soulkey's evolution over the course of Proleague has been incredible. Soulkey has been the team's most reliable ace, with his micro-based ZvZ frightening from day one and his ZvT and ZvP both evolving to meet the ever increasing standards in Proleague. Though Soulkey has still been mostly red hot after his GSL championship, his most recent 0-3 loss to Innovation in the OSL certainly raised some brows. The up side to all of this is that while he lost with an abysmal score, he still looked like a top-tier Zerg, just not against Innovation. The down side is that in the finals, Soulkey's only sparring partner will be Innovation himself.

Standing just behind Soulkey is the definition of ”wild card”, sOs. Throughout the past few months, sOs has been through his fair share of up-and-downs this season. Like most Protoss players who are not Rain, the Bo1 format suits sOs well. He shows up with a wonky or unexpected strategy and executes near-perfectly most of the time. Other times, he falls off or makes strange decisions that cost him games. After dropping out 1-2 in his OSL group, we have seen very little of sOs. He won the Asian Indoors-Martial Arts tournament, beating Flash in the finals. But how much does that really matter? With sOs, it's always hard to say. He looked great at the Season 1 Finals but then promptly died to 0-4 Innovation. His opponent in the Proleague finals is Dear, who has become a very dangerous player in the Protoss mirror. If the ace-level sOs shows up, things will look great for Woongjin, but with the Season Finals still fresh in our memories, sOs' position doesn't inspire confidence.

As if one wonky Protoss wasn't enough, Flying stands at sOs' side. While Flying was a key player on Woongjin's lineup in the hybrid season, he fell off around the same time sOs emerged from the shadows to become Flying's upgraded clone. Flying brings much the same to the table as sOs – unorthodox builds and funky all-ins, but he doesn't have the same level of consistency. The real question is that in a match like this, where everything is on the line, would you rather bring in the guy who consistently gives you a decent showing, or the guy who might give you a stellar performance on his best day? Of course, Flying certainly belongs in the later group. In a regular season match, consistent players may be preferable; they'll eke out more wins than your sometimes-horrible, sometimes-great players, but with an eight-month league coming to an end with everything on the line in a single match, you have to trust your players, which is what the Woongjin coaches have done here. They're fielding Flying hoping for a stellar performance, and his victory will be crucial for Woongjin.

Aside from the consistent Soulkey and consistently inconsistent duo of sOs and Flying, Woongjin will field three more players – BrAvO, ZerO and free. All three have had periods throughout the season where they have played like they were on their way to becoming a real force to be reckoned with. Each of them has then fallen short only to rise again not much later. ZerO and free in particular were deadly in the all-kill rounds, where momentum carried them through more players than their name value alone would have you think them capable of. As for BravO, he has consistently showed promise throughout the season, but he hasn't been fielded as much as for example Soulkey or sOs, making assessing him slightly more difficult. That said, he's playing against mini who hasn't exactly done too well for himself in Starcraft II. I have a nagging feeling that Woongjin lives and dies with this trio. Flying and sOs are great players on their good days, but their consistency cannot always be relied upon. Soulkey was given a tough match-up against Innovation, so it comes down to these three. If they play as well as they have at points through the season, even STX's momentum will not be enough to get them through Woongjin's lineup alive.

The missing component of Woongjin's finals lineup is Light, a player who we usually expect to be at core of Woongjin. For most of the season, Light was used over BravO as Woongjin's mandatory Terran. However, we should not be surprised that Light has been replaced with BravO in the most important match of the season. After all, Light is 3-7 in his last 10 games and they'll all been especially shaky games to say the least. Woongjin makes the right call in the finals by benching Light, going for the safer option rather than the namesake route.

When Proleague started off late last year, STX was repeatedly smashing their collective heads into the rock bottom right next to Samsung Khan. To put it mildly, things weren't looking great. Innovation had not yet evolved into the robotic killing machine he has now become and they were struggling to find consistent contributors beyond the momentum-based Dear. Ending Round 2 with a 4-10 match score, STX flipped the switch in time for Round 3 and began their long climb to the top of Proleague. With the release of Heart of the Swarm, two very important changes took place. The first was Innovation going from being really good to being absolutely terrifying across all matchups.

The second important change was Classic's surpringly successful switch to Protoss. Race switching is rare as it very rarely produces results, but Classic managed to handle his switch admirably, and STX has no doubt profited greatly from another Protoss in PvProleague. While Classic was never bad prior to his race switch, his record had been fairly mediocre with a few flashes of good play. Switching to Protoss, his win rate instantly shot through the roof. With Classic to aid his teammates, the team now had a Protoss lineup to rival SKT's. The entire team has been collecting momentum like Symbol collects tears over the last few months, culminating in consecutively eliminating the other two contenders, KT and SKT without losing a match. Neither could stand up to STX's fairly newfound depth and ace power, and even Woongjin, who looked untouchable for most of the season, can't be completely confident going into the final match of the season. STX have come a long way from the team that couldn't take more than a single map of KT. They have reinvented themselves, changed what needed changing and they have come out ahead. This is their final test, and they certainly look up to the challenge.

The Lineup

There is little contest to the ace spot on STX. INnoVation has been the face of STX for most of the season and he's backed the hype he's gathered up with actual results. Before his surprising 0-4 loss to Maru in the OSL, Innovation had looked like one of the most dominant players ever to grace to StarCraft II scene. Maru may have robbed us of a Innovation vs Rain finals, but we'll see plenty of Innovation in these Proleague finals. More on him later.



Dear and Classic, though not ace level, have more than carried their own weight throughout HotS. Outside Proleague, Dear tore up a tough qualifier to earn the seed to the last MLG, going through a lineup consisting of most of KeSPA's finest. While neither player has achieved a great deal outside Proleague, it is the format that suits them both best and where they play the best with Dear even besting Flash in the last weeks of the regular season. Dear's PvP has been solid for most of the season, as has Classic's, but they're up against two of the streakiest players in sOs and Flying. The deep Protoss lineup on STX will be key here, as well as calm minds. Flying and sOs do their best to throw you off your game with their shenanigans, and resisting any sudden urge to go one-base carrier will be vital.

The second Protoss duo starts with one of the mirror-est players in Proleague, Mini, who has played PvP in the majority of his games this season, and not a single PvT, a matchup he'll be introduced to for these finals. The other half, Trap, faces off against ZerO. Both Mini and Trap have been overshadowed by their more successful Protoss teammates in Proleague, but they both – Trap in particular, bring solid and usually well-prepared Protoss play to the table – something it seems no Proleague team can get enough of. Trap's opponent, ZerO has had a slightly rough time in the matchup recently, with an 0-2 loss to Swagger in Challenger League his latest result, whereas Trap quietly has amassed a fairly impressive PvZ record in HotS, sitting at 14-4. Not all Proleague, granted, but the opponents he beat are mostly comparable to ZerO. As for Mini, with no remotely recent games to study in PvT, the fabled KeSPA preparation and long practice hours will be his best friend going into his final match of the season.

And then there's that guy: hyvaa. The once unremarkable, almost invisible Zerg has begun to slowly make a name for himself in HotS as a cheeser. The curious case of hyvaa is that he's perfectly capable of and actually often good at standard play; he just chooses not to employ it a large portion of the time. hyvaa is exactly the kind of player who's dangerous to have in the opposing team – he doesn't put up a show and he doesn't care for silly concepts such as honor; he shows up and plays to win.

We’ve spent the last few weeks exploring STX Soul’s extensive history, how they managed to rise after hitting rock bottom, and how they've still persevered through thick and thin to arrive at the grand finals. They’ve plowed through both SK Telecom T1 and KT Rolster, despite extremely close head to head matches during the regular season. Now, they face Woongjin Stars, the elephant in the room that stands towering over the rest. Stars dominated Proleague in a manner that demands attention and respect. They managed to secure such a lead that they they once fielded an entire lineup of B-teamers and almost take out Samsung KHAN. With the finals hours away, here's a look back at how STX Soul has fared in the past against Woongjin Stars.

Looking through their past matches, STX and Woongjin have a bizarre history together, one that has shown that this upcoming finals is anything but predictable. We start at the first round, where STX went 2-5 with one of their wins coming from none other than Woongjin themselves. Here we see Dear pulling out the rug under Soulkey and taking the ace match, which is a rare sight to see in recent times. Surprisingly, Dear defeated Soulkey once more in the first all-kill round as he managed to knock out Woongjin’s ace Zerg to go on a three-game streak before being taken out by ZerO.

By the start of Heart of the Swarm, Woongjin had taken down STX Soul twice, ending Wings of Liberty with a 4-0 victory over them, even going so far as beating Innovation with their rookie, AriA. However, STX hit back with the expansion, and they hit hard, winning their next two engagements against Woongjin. With their reformed Classic and their stoic ace Innovation, they managed to take the lead in their head to head.

But Woongjin did not rest on their laurels and even though they were already secured to be in the playoffs, they still fielded a powerful four man hit squad against STX Soul for their last encounter, perhaps to send them a message. A message was definitely received, as STX Soul went down 0-4 in the final round of the regular season in what was an utter decimation of their core players. But this was so long ago; STX Soul is now riding on a burst of momentum coming into this match. Having won four straight matches against some of the best teams in Proleague, they are primed and ready to keep on blasting through to the finish line. Meanwhile, Woongjin has been sitting in the shadows, watching and waiting for the final showdown.

As an aside, take special note of the fact that in five of the six matches, STX won or lost with Innovation. Except for Round 4, when Innovation won, STX won. When he fell, his team fell with him. As if there wasn't enough pressure on time already.

Eight months in the making, we are finally here. The Grand Finals of Proleague are upon us, and the two strongest teams stand before us. In one corner are Woongjin Stars, the shining examples of what it means to be a top team in StarCraft II. Having both a stellar Zerg and Protoss, Woongjin have solidified themselves as the top dog in Proleague and have continued to establish their dominance round after round. In the other corner are STX Soul, a team that was smashed repeatedly into the ground at the start of the season, only to come back harder and stronger with the release of Heart of the Swarm. With Innovation leading the charge, they have managed to claw their way past their weaknesses, becoming a amalgamation of Terran resilience, Protoss strength and Zerg cunning. Both teams have fielded their best players in a single best of seven to decide the victor of this season’s Proleague. Who will come out on top? Only time will tell.

BrAvO <Akilon Wastes> Mini

Our first game of the day is essentially an appetizer - an hors d'oeuvre if you will. As the only TvP of the night featuring two of the less star-studded players on each team, the outcome of this game will influence the match, but definitely not set the tone nor pace of it. BrAvO is a Terran we saw sporadically throughout Proleague usually as a stand in to either an ailing Protoss or Light.

On the other side of the coin we have Mini, a rising star for STX Soul and yet another Protoss player that has shown flashes of brilliance, Mini was the player who took down both Stats and Zest in their matches against KT Rolster. He not only closed out the series both times but also showed very good knowledge of the PvP match-up. However, he isn’t playing a PvP this time and it will be yet another test for this newly minted Protoss player to prove if he can overcome another hurdle.

This game will mark Mini's debut against Terran in HotS in probably the worst stage imaginable for a neophyte. Meanwhile, BravO was purposely placed onto Aklion Wastes, a map known for being Protoss favored. And with STX's heavy Protoss lineup, it would be unlikely that another race would be placed here; in short, Woongjin anticipated a TvP on this map, signaling that BravO is confident in this matchup.

Soulkey <Whirlwind> INnoVation

With the appetizer out of the way, we make way for the main course - the pivotal game of the night. While we managed to get an Innovation vs Rain ace match during the first round of the playoffs, it was an underwhelming game and did not live up to it’s expectations. We also managed to skip over a Flash vs Innovation ace match as well, depriving us of yet another excellent matchup. Now, although this isn’t an ace match, we are essentially being given the prime cut of both teams, as Soulkey and Innovation go head to head once more in what is a blooming rivalry between the two star players.

Though they’ve only played twice in Proleague, with each player taking one win apiece, their head to head score expands into the individual leagues, where fans will no doubt remember the reverse sweep that Soulkey performed against Innovation, allowing him to claim the S1 WCS Korea crown. However, the most recent result is of Innovation taking revenge on Soulkey by eliminating him in the quarter-finals of the OSL. With both players out of the tournament, they will clash once more on the Proleague stage, where they will not only be playing for their own pride and glory, but for their team’s, and everyone else who support them.

With the OSL games still fresh in everyone’s minds, it may be that we are not going to be witness to an exciting rematch, and that Innovation has Soulkey’s number, but, while Innovation was preparing for his match against Maru in the OSL, Soulkey had a solid week to prepare for this singular game. We saw that Soulkey still had the chops to stand toe to toe against Innovation’s fierce aggression, and that the WCS Korea S1 winner still had what it takes to push it to the limit and force Innovation into a corner, at least for a little while. With only one game to prove himself, Soulkey has to lay it all out on the line and give it his all if he wants to secure the lead for his team, and bring home the trophy.

As with the seeding on the first map, the fact that both Innovation and Soulkey were placed onto Whirlwind is something curious to note. For both players, it is their home map. First and foremost, Whirlwind is considered a Zerg map, but it especially caters to Soulkey's particular style of baneling/ling counterattacks. On the other hand, Whirlwind is also a perfect map for Innovation's patented never-ending bio-mine push against Zerg. Both players will be at their strongest on Whirlwind and it's very likely that both teams suspected that each others' aces would be seeded on this very map. What this says to me is that both teams have the utmost confidence that their best is enough to outdo their opponents' best.

sOs <Korhal Floating Island> Dear

With that heavy meal out of the way, we move on to dessert, where an intensely rich molten lava cake of a PvP is ready for us to devour. While Soulkey and Innovation may be the stars of their team, sOs and Dear are easily their lieutenants and they are both in their element when it comes to PvP. With Dear taking their only game against one other in StarCraft II, there is certainly an aspect of revenge at play here. However, PvP is no longer a crapshoot as it was in Wings of Liberty, and there is a lot of finesse that comes in a strong PvP, especially in Proleague.

Though sOs has been looking shaky lately in his non-PvP matchups, having crumbled to Innovation in the WCS S1 Finals, and then bombing out of the OSL to Maru and SoO, keep in mind his PvP winrate in HotS is over 75% and isn’t something that can be underestimated. Meanwhile, Dear has been inconsistent in his PvP, managing to beat out Zest in the Playoffs two weeks ago but also losing to sOs’ teammate Flying in the OSL. So while Dear may have a win over sOs under his belt, sOs should come into this match with an advantage - it’s just a question of whether or not he can put it to good use.

free <Bel'Shir Vestige> hyvaa

With two of the best match-ups out of the way, we turn our focus to the last three games of this match. And while none of these players will be winning an OSL soon, they have each proven themselves in one way or another that they are worthy of the grand final stage. free vs hyvaa is the first PvZ of the night and it features one of the more infamous players in modern StarCraft, hyvaa. Having gained considerable notoriety as of late, hyvaa has caught a sizable amount of hate for the way he plays. Having lost all four of his games in the playoffs, two against Flash and two against soO, hyvaa has one last shot at making a contribution for his team. While he showed why he shouldn’t be underestimated in those tiebreak groups by somehow winning that game against Rain, he still lost to First as well as Rain in the second set of matches, showing that his ZvP isn’t his strong suit.

free, on the other hand, has been relatively out of the spotlight, failing to get into the WCS system once again. As such, almost all his appearances have been through Proleague. However it should be noted he tried to qualify for MLG Anaheim but ended up losing to none other than hyvaa. In fact, hyvaa is up 2-0 in matches won against free with his win in the qualifiers along with a win in Round 5 of Proleague. So while hyvaa may not look his best as of late, free has been looking a lot worse for wear and could be an easy target for someone like hyvaa.

ZerO <Newkirk Redevelopment Precinct> Trap

In the battle of fourth string players, this is the story of players that simply do not receive the recognition they deserve. Firstly we have the tragic story of ZerO, who despite his best efforts, has not come back as the force he once was after the release of Heart of the Swarm. The once bubbly and ferocious Zerg was, in fact, benched for the last two weeks of Proleague, and just hasn’t been performing up to snuff. His ZvP, in particular, has been somewhat of an issue, with both his losses in the WCS Korea qualifiers being attributed to Protoss in the form of Swagger and Panic. Meanwhile, Trap is sitting pretty with an excellent win rate against Zerg, boasting wins over Kangho, Symbol and Curious. Sure, these aren’t Kespa Zergs, but they are high-caliber Zergs and can certainly give most Protoss a run for their money. Going into this game, it will be extremely important for ZerO to prove that he isn’t a washed up player and that he can bounce back and come back stronger than ever. Otherwise, it will be a routine clean-up for Trap, and STX will be one step closer to their victory.

Flying <Neo Planet S> Classic

It’s the final game of the match, barring a tie and an ace match appearance, and it’s up to these two players to either close the match out or tie it up and give their team one last shot at the championship. On one hand is a Protoss player with one of the most unpredictable playstyles and on the other hand is a Protoss player who learns and adapts with each passing moment. These clashing ideals will come to a head and it will be up to both players to see if they can outwit each other in what is potentially the final game of the entire season.

While neither player has a particularly strong PvP, Classic at least has a Rain win under his belt while Flying only has a MC win to his name during the first season of WCS Korea. With that being said, this series will probably be the most unpredictable of the six, and rightfully so, as there is no clear winner from the outset and almost anything can happen in this set. What will most likely happen though is that Flying will try an unorthodox build against Classic who will respond in a calm and stoic manner. Whether or not Flying’s gambit will pay off, well, that remains to be seen of course, but if he shows his hand too early, Classic should be comfortable enough to take the win.



The best part about these finals is that the seeding was done in such a peculiar way that each player was seeded against the player he would be most evenly matched against. Innovation and Soulkey are clearly the best players of their teams while sOs and Dear both rank in the top two. Meanwhile, BravO and Mini are certainly the weakest players on both teams and everyone else reside somewhere in the middle. Unlike with STX vs KT, there are no clear walkovers in this match and everyone will have a good chance to beat their opponents.

Should a need for an Ace Match occur, STX Soul is faced with an interesting conundrum that KT Rolster was all too familiar with in the final days of Brood War. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Brood War history, KT Rolster and SK Telecom T1 were the two dominant teams at the end BW Proleague and they faced each other in the final three consecutive Brood War finals: 09-10, 10-11, and 11-12. During each of these finals, it was essentially established that Flash was one of the top two players in the world, certainly objectively better than anyone on SKT T1's roster. Flash was essentially cemented as ace and for good reason. SKT T1, on the other hand, had the advantage of diversity. While they didn't necessarily have an ultimate weapon, they were able to field three formidable players from two different races, Fantasy, Bisu, and BeSt(vT). Though Flash had the advantage of being advantaged heads up against any of the individual players, he had the disadvantage in terms of preparation. While SKT T1 focused vigorously on training one sniper for the ace match, Flash was forced to spread his preparation between three uniquely challenging players of varying races and styles.


Fast forward to modern day StarCraft II: the 12-13 Proleague finals. In the same vein as Flash once was, INnoVation is widely regarded as the best player on the planet at the moment. Even more damning for Woongjin is that Innovation has recently decimated both their two most likely aces. In the biggest stage there's ever been in recent memory, Innovation showed no remorse as he decimated sOs with a clean 4-0 victory. And though a combination of Soulkey and Innovation's own nerves got the better of him in the most recent GSL Finals, Innovation got his revenge and curb stomped his Zerg rival 3-0 in the OSL. Though the most recent results represent a 7-0 in favor of Innovation, many of the matches were a lot closer than this score represents. Two games that spring to mind include Innovation's fourth game against sOs in the WCS Grand Finals and his first game against Soulkey in the OSL. Given the right conditions, it's far from inconceivable that Innovation could be upset.

Which brings us back to Woongjin's distinct advantage: STX Soul could make their best guess as to who the ace will be, but they have no way to be absolutely certain. Somehow, Innovation will have to split his practice time in order to prepare for two(potentially three) separate races. Meanwhile, Woongjin's target is clear and single-minded: take out Innovation. Could this just be the advantage that Woongjin will need to overtake the greatest RTS player of all time?

Regardless of how STX and Innovation will prepare and budget their time, what's our best guess at who this mysterious ace will be? Well, the smart money is on Soulkey. Not only is he considered the slightly better player of the two most likely aces, he's got the stronger nerves of the two. After all, what other player could stay composed enough to come back from a 0-3 deficit in a major WCS finals? Certainly not sOs. Soulkey is certainly the safe choice, the most likely player on Woongjin Stars to keep up with Innovation in a heads up game.

But what about sOs? The first thing going for sOs is the map the ace match will be played on. The new NarO Station, even after the changes that nerfed Protoss, is still a Protoss favored map. Of the 42 games played on the new version of Naro Station, 35 of them have included at least one Protoss. Another thing going for sOs is the nature of his style. sOs is far more likely than Soulkey to bring out something new, something exquisitely prepared for this one final all-important match. He's been saving up vT Terran strats for almost a month, not having played a single Terran in that time frame, and it may be time to bring out his best.

Then we have Light. Conspicuously absent from the main lineup, Light may be sent to target Innovation's newfound weakness against Terran that he showed in the OSL. (At least that's what Woongjin's coach wants us to think.) Given his track record though, probably not.

The truth of the matter is StarCraft in all of its iterations is a one-on-one game; it is a game played alone either online or in a confined booth. The player is isolated from the world and must look into the fog of war to ask himself how will he win. It is a game obsessed with victory at any costs with whatever means. It is how we try to gain that victory that defines us and shows our true nature to the world, whether it be by macro, micro, management, mind control or cheese. It is an all out war against an opponent, against the game and against oneself.

But to be the greatest, to reach the top of the world, to stand on top of that podium, no player can stand alone. They form teams and together they grind countless hours looking for the answer to victory. They wake up thinking of StarCraft. Together, they eat StarCraft, they drink StarCraft, they go to sleep dreaming of StarCraft. And should one fall over from exhaustion or a slump, his teammates will support him, dragging him back up. It is this environment, more than the strict practice regime, more than the constant hours that make team houses the best place to reach the highest tier of competition in StarCraft II.

This is what makes the Proleague Finals special and what has made it special for over ten years. More so than any individual tournament, the Proleague is where Ace players can show their gratitude and help bring glory and recognition to their team. It is the place where unknown but hard working players can come out and show the world their play; it is where the HoeJJas of the world will make their stand. It is where all of the individual talents of the players can come together to work towards a goal greater than themselves. It is the epitome of all team leagues and is the venue in which teams can battle for more than individual glory. They fight for their fans and their teammates for the chance to make a mark on history as the champions.

Let's face it: Woongjin Stars is not the almighty empire of SK Telecom T1. And though they're doing their best impression, STX Soul is not the legendary KT Rolster. Neither of the teams competing in the finals tonight possess a pantheon of Proleague trophies. Without a championship tonight, the likes of SK Telecom and KT Rolster will continue to survive, to thrive. But for Woongjin Stars and STX Soul, the future is not so clear and tonight might be their only chance to clinch the prestigious title. Both teams have been fighting for nearly a decade trying to get back to the finals of Proleague. Woongjin has not experienced a finals since they were known as Hanbit in 2005, STX not since 2004. Both head coaches have stuck with their respective teams since the inception of Proleague and perhaps it is one of these coaches who can sum it up best:




It all ends here. In a culmination of 8 months of grueling work, 173 total matches, around 1000 games played, and 47 Teamliquid coverage articles, the conclusion of the '12-'13 Proleague season is upon us. Both teams have certainly earned their spots on the grand stage and it's about time to crown a champion.