3. 2011 Code S November: jjakji vs. Leenock

No one wanted this final. At the time, this was without question the least cared about final of all-time. One of the finalists in Leenock had earned the fans' respect, eliminating best-in-the-world Mvp in the semifinals, playing a fantastic series that was worthy of a finals. However, his opponent jjakji was seen as a fluke finalist – not without skill, but also having a lot of luck on his side. It wasn't that the players were considered cheesy or boring, but in 2011 it was the first final to not include one of the GSL's mega-stars. MC, Nestea and Mvp had been passing around the Code S championship belt for the past year, and there was a large void felt because of their absence.

Few had predicted Leenock or jjakji to even make the final eight. Leenock, the young zerg from FXO, had been improving by the month, but no one expected him to have a massive breakout month in November, where he took down Mvp in the GSL semi-finals and won MLG Providence with a hugely impressive run from the open bracket. Though no one would dare compare him to Nestea at the time, he had made it clear to everyone that he was a player that had all the tools to become a GSL champion.

Jjakji? Well... if we had a time machine and could run Code S November a thousand time over, jjakji probably would have made it to the finals zero times. That's not to say that he played poorly, it's just that he got some incredibly freakish, lucky breaks. In the Ro32, jjakji was one game away from being eliminated 0-2 and not winning a single match in the entire season. In a last chance match against SuperNoVa, Jjakji would end up going for the exact same proxy-marauder strategy as his opponent. Supernova took a clear advantage with better micro, but managed to somehow throw it all away with awful decision making, giving jjakji the one lifeline he needed to stay in the tournament.

Surviving to make it to the round of sixteen, jjakji got even more help when Coca, one of the best Zergs in the world at the time, had to forfeit his Ro16 Code S spot because of an absolutely bone-headed "match-fixing" scandal with close friend ByuN during a completely inconsequential ESV Korean Weekly. That meant it was totally okay for jjakji to lose his first match to Mvp, because he only needed to beat Virus to make out his three-man group. Jjakji then caught another break in the quarterfinals, managing to catch a jet-lagged Puzzle just after he returned from MLG Providence and he took a 3-0 victory as a result.

There wasn't much luck involved in Jjakji's semifinal match against Oz, but it was one of those rare train wreck series that somehow made both players look bad. As much as Oz was praised for his creative strategies, the series against jjakji showed what happens when creativity goes wrong. Even though beating Oz – the best Protoss of the November season – looked good on paper for jjakji, in practice the ugly 3-2 win failed to convert many fans to his cause.

Going in to the finals, expectations were at an all-time low. Leenock was the heavy favorite, looking brilliant while winning MLG Providence and knocking out Mvp in the semifinals. Jjakji was basically a nobody – a decent player who had reached the finals through the unlikeliest of circumstances. With no former champion or mega-star in the finals, fans were ready to write off the finals before it even started, wondering if it was worth tuning in to see Leenock destroy the lucky underdog.

It took just a single game for everyone to realize their expectations had been very, very wrong.

Game one on Tal'Darim Altar was one of the greatest games in GSL history, with both players playing at their absolute best. Jjakji decided to employ a bit of trickery by taking a hidden base at another main, but gave it an incredibly clever twist by placing his command center behind the mineral line, correctly anticipating that Leenock wouldn't bother to scout all the way.

While this bit of creative subterfuge certainly played a big part in the game, Jjakji impressed with his all around play as well. He hadn't shown his TvZ at all leading up to the finals, but it turned out that he had saved the best for last. His micro, macro, multi-tasking, and decision-making matched that of MMA or Mvp, and instantly redeemed himself in everyone's eyes. After a close and intense macro-game, jjakji was able to narrowly take the victory over Leenock.

It was the best surprise that anyone watching could have asked for, seeing the initially underwhelming finals card deliver an epic match truly worth of the GSL finals stage. Jjakji and Leenock may not have been as famous as Mvp or Nestea, but they had played a better game on the first map of their first finals than Mvp and Nestea had in six finals combined.

The games following the first were just as good, with the two finalists trading blows like heavyweight fighters. Going up 3-2 against Leenock with a sixth set to come, jjakji, the most unlikely finalist of all-time, was one win away from taking home the GSL championship. Leenock tried his best to get the series to a seventh game, but jjakji was too good on the night to let the series slip away, holding steady against all of Leenock's attacks to take home the Code S championship.

In terms of pure game quality, Leenock vs. Jjakji is the greatest final of all-time. If you just look at all of the individual games alone and out of context, there's not a single game that's one-sided or a waste. If we had made a list of best GSL finals games, then you'd find a lot of games from this series in the top ten.


However, the lack of a climactic seventh game hurts the finals a bit when you look at the bigger picture. What can we say? Nothing compares to the excitement of a game seven. Everything was set up perfectly for Leenock to force a game seven and take this series over the top, but it just didn't happen.

If you personally think Leenock vs. Jjakji is the best finals of all-time, then no one will blame you. All of our top three finals series in this ranking are amazing, and all have a great case to be called #1. But if you're counting in narrative, hype, intensity, crowd, and everything else outside of the games, this series falls just barely short compared to our top two.

2. 2011 Blizzard Cup: MMA vs. DongRaeGu

One of the lesser known stories of the GSL is that DongRaeGu and MMA could have been the twin crown jewels in the SlayerS empire. Back in 2011 when people first began to realize what kind of player that DongRaeGu could become if developed correctly, Boxer invited DongRaeGu to join the newly formed SlayerS team alongside MMA, another KeSPA trainee who had a lot of potential. DongRaeGu declined the invitation, wanting to focus on school while thinking that becoming a pro-gamer might not be the best long term career choice.

It was at that point the MVP head coach came in, convincing DongRaeGu that progaming was something worth taking a risk on while he still had a chance, and telling him that he would help him get into college later if it meant tutoring him himself. And so, after much insisting, Team MVP got their marquee free agent to sign with them for the third GSTL tournament.

In the GSTL, DongRaeGu and MMA would become rivals before either of them ever set foot in Code S. Both of them lived up to the potential that their coaches had seen in them, and they became the aces of their teams in the GSTL. Team MVP and SlayerS would end up clashing in the finals of the May GSTL, both teams having been led to that point by DRG and MMA. DongRaeGu was 5-0 heading into the finals, not having a lost a single game in the GomTV studio up to that point. MMA had already carried SlayerS to a second place and first place finish in the past seasons, and was the ruling king of the GSTL. It was almost inevitable that the two aces would face off in a game seven with the GSTL title on the line.

MMA would come out on top at the end of a thrilling TvZ, his marine micro proving to be better than DRG's vaunted muta-ling control. But even though Team MVP had lost the title, DongRaeGu still left a strong impression by finishing the season as the player with the most wins. His heart-pounding ace match against MMA left fans excited for what might come next.

The two teams would clash again in the next season of GSTL, and the second time around DRG was able to get the better of MMA and SlayerS. In general it was an off-season for SlayerS, who failed to make it into the playoffs altogether. On the other hand, MVP rolled through the opposition in one of the most dominant GSTL runs ever, defeating Prime in the grand finals without even needing DongRaeGu to step into the booth.

While his team took a step back in team competition, MMA caught fire in individual tournaments. His championship performance at MLG Columbus won him a Code S spot (much harder to earn at the time), and he lived up to his SlayerS ace stature by making it to the finals of the $100,000 GSL Super Tournament. Though MMA would fall 0-4 to Prime's Polt in the finals, he had more than proved himself as a championship caliber player.

After a rocky Code S August where he was eliminated by Polt yet again, Emperor's Heir lived up to expectations by making it to the Code S finals in GSL October. Heading to overseas to the finals stage at BlizzCon, MMA usurped the reigning King of Wings Mvp to take the championship and plant the flag for a new SlayerS dynasty.

Like his rival, DongRaeGu broke into Code S on the back of a strong performance at MLG, earning a seed through his third place finish at Raleigh. However, unlike MMA, DongRaeGu couldn't break into the championship picture right away, getting eliminated in the Ro16 by SuperNoVa in his first season and dropping out to Happy and Gumiho in the Ro32 of his second.

Though MMA and DRG hadn't crossed paths in individual events, the 2011 Blizzard Cup would set the stage. Both players just barely squeezed their way in: DRG winning a spot by winning the comically weak IEM New York Tournament (where he beat a LoL-playing FruitDealer in the finals), and MMA getting in as a 'replacement' for Mvp who had won three of the qualification spots. MMA was able to overcome his Super Tournament demons in the group stage, defeating Polt to earn a semi-final spot. There, MMA would meet Mvp, and once again he was able to beat the best players of Wings in a relatively easy series.

DongRaeGu's path was a little tougher, drawing MC in the semifinals after placing first place in his group. In a series that went all five games, DongRaeGu was able to narrowly pull out the victory against the most decorated Protoss in GSL history. DRG was slightly fortunate as MC seemed to defeat himself, using peculiar strategies like carrier rushes to disastrous effect. DRG was able to eliminate the final Protoss of the tournament and set up the dream finals everyone had been wanting to see since the SlayerS-MVP clashes in the GSTL.

With a raucous crowd and a specifically made Blizzard Cup trophy hanging in the balance, the finals were expected to be a classic. However, the fans were soon disappointed as the first three games were on the same level as Inca vs. Nestea. DongRaeGu, showing his nervousness and inexperience in a GSL final, looked incredibly off in the first three games. He threw the first game of the night and then losing two more to go down 0-3. It looked to be another disappointing finals in accordance to GSL tradition, with DongRaeGu serving as a stepping stone for MMA as he ascended to become the undisputed best in the world.

Then, like a switch had been flipped on, DongRaeGu decided to show everyone what he could do. Playing with nothing to lose, DongRaeGu crushed MMA in three straight games to tie the series back up at 3-3. It was an fascinating scene, seeing a player who had been completely lifeless just an hour ago catch fire before everyone's eyes, while the player who was one step away from the crown collapsed in an undignified heap.

Though DongRaeGu's comeback from 0-3 down was one of the most dramatic sequences in GSL history, the real reason this final is an all-time classic and in the pantheon of GSL finals is because of game seven. With the first six games of the series being very one-sided affairs, it wouldn't have been surprising if the final game played out the same way. Either DRG would run out of steam, or MMA would be damaged beyond recovery after losing three straight, right? Wrong. What took place was what myths and legends are made of, with the two rivals putting on a game seven that kept everyone – their teammates, the casters and especially the fans – on the edge of their seats the whole way through.

The lead swung back and forth as DongRaeGu and MMA engaged in titanic battle, giving us the kind of match that was befitting of the greatest new generation rivalry. In the end, MMA's non-stop harassment finally began to wear down DongRaeGu's defenses, and the MVP Zerg decided to rally all his forces for a final attack before his infrastructure collapsed completely. In a crazy final battle, MMA was barely able to hold out against DRG's brood lords all while a commando force of tanks snuck by to kill DongRaeGu's last mining base. With the final GG, MMA was immediately mobbed by his teammates and lifted in the air as the true heir of SlayerS`Boxer. But even as MMA celebrated, the fans couldn't look past the incredible performance DongRaeGu had put on for them, giving him a standing ovation when he was handed his second place check and flowers.


Even outside the great MMA-DongRaeGu story, even without DongRaeGu's dramatic comeback, game seven would still have been amazing. However, with the added context of it being a duel between the rival aces of the two top SC2 teams in the world, playing for the final GSL championship of 2011, game seven is truly unforgettable and one of the greatest games in SC2 history.

The name Mun Seong Won might forever be etched on the Blizzard Cup trophy, but as the years go by, the 2011 Blizzard Cup will be less remembered for MMA taking his place as the top player in the SC2 world, and more for the historic game seven that the two players played after already going through six stressful games. Whenever you think of the Blizzard Cup, memories of Artosis screaming his heart out will pop into your head, reminding you of the amazing series between the two rivals who were so close to becoming teammates.


1. 2012 Code S Season 2: Mvp vs. Squirtle - VOD

Without hyperbole, I truly believe that there was never a player more dominant in GSL history than Squirtle during the second Code S of 2012. Yes, we've witnessed the perfection of Nestea's run during the July season, Mvp's countless finals during the back half of 2011, and even Innovation's slaughtering of top tier opponents in early HotS. But for a few months in the spring of 2012, Squirtle topped them all. A player who had always shown hints of great potential without fully realizing it, Squirtle finally put it all together and became THE dominant force in the GSL.

Squirtle had his coming out party at IPL4 where he started down in the open bracket. In one of the most grueling tournament runs in history, Squirtle went 32-17 over the course of three days, starting from the very bottom and making it all the way to the grand finals of the Las Vegas event. Along the way, he defeated players like ByuN, MC, Creator, Nestea, MMA, MarineKing, PuMa, and Bomber – all top tier players at the time. Going into the grand finals from the losers bracket, he had to defeat aLive in two straight Bo5's to take the championship. Though Squirtle was able to defeat aLive once, he couldn't repeat the feat as he ran out of steam in the ultimate Bo5 series. But even as aLive took home the championship, Squirtle left the tournament as its true star, with everyone wondering what he could do in the following Code S season.

For just a moment, Squirtle looked like he wouldn't live up to the hype, losing to MMA in his first game of Code S Season 2. He looked like a crude version of PartinG in defeat, showing sloppy templar micro instead of trying to go for his own style. However, Squirtle got right back on track in game two, reverting back to his favored colossus play. In that game, Squirtle began the second longest winning streak in Code S history, trumped only by Nestea's perfect July season. After coming back to defeat MMA 2-1 in his first match, Squirtle took a 2-0 against Leenock to reach the Ro16, looking like the same incredible player who had almost won IPL4.


Mvp, on the other hand, had a rough start to the season. The wrist pains that had started out as a nuisance in the fall of 2011 had rapidly worsened to become a real impediment to Mvp's game. He had already looked like a player who was old and slow in the previous Code S where he had dropped out in the Ro16, and he didn't look much better as he dropped his very first series 0-2 to TvT master Ryung. Quieting his critics for the time being, Mvp made short work of Puzzle in the loser's match and then got his revenge on Ryung in the final match to reach the Ro16. Ryung proved to be a tough opponent in the rematch as well, and Mvp had to fight through a long series with all the grueling aspects of TvT before he emerged victorious.

The Ro16 matches saw both finalists continue down diverging paths. MC, Maru, and Oz all had the misfortune of getting grouped with Squirtle, who took out Oz and Maru in easy, double 2-0 series to reach the Ro8. Mvp? He struggled once more, barely getting by July – a player closer to retirement than a championship – and then fell to Liquid's HerO in a close 1-2 loss. With his season on the line, Mvp was forced to go against Leenock, a championship caliber player who had eliminated him just two seasons ago. In a series that made everyone feel sorry for Mvp's ailing wrists, Mvp slugged it out with Leenock in a bloody war that went all three games. The King scratched and clawed his way to victory, winning by the a razor thin margin in a base trade.

In the quarterfinals, Squirtle drew a fearsome emerging talent in Taeja, an online menace who was finally flexing his muscles in the GSL. What some thought could be a close match turned out to be a mismatch of epic proportions, with Squirtle taking a three game sweep to stroll into the semifinals on a royal road of destruction.

Mvp managed to get a bit of a reprieve in quarterfinals, drawing the surprise player of the season in NaNiwa. It was one of the few matches where Mvp was favored due to his championship pedigree and NaNiwa playing in his first Code S (not to mention being a foreigner). Though Mvp did emerge victorious as expected, it was hardly a reassuring performance. SCV pulls and cheese rushes all figured heavily into Mvp's plans, who was more concerned about getting the victory than impressing anyone.

Thus, many expected Mvp to get crushed in his semifinal match against PartinG. At that point PartinG was playing some of the best PvT in the world alongside Squirtle, and it didn't seem that a past-his-prime Mvp could take him on. However, the same tactics that beat NaNiwa turned out to be sufficient to beat PartinG as well. Parting had talked big about how he was going to defeat Mvp easily and head to the finals, but the champion with the damaged wrists was able to surpass a more skilled player by using his mind and strategies to his advantage. PartinG would certainly have won in macro games, but his inability to defend early against early-mid game timings allowed Mvp to advance on.

On the other side of the bracket, Squirtle continued to breeze through the tournament. Having already slain one Liquid player in TaeJa, Squirtle looked to take out their ace in HerO. HerO had been improving his weakest match-up of PvP, but was still hugely outmatched by Squirtle. Three quick wins for Squirtle in his best match-up extended his win streak to fourteen games since dropping a single map to MMA at the onset of the tournament. Overshadowing the rest of the competitors with his commanding wins, Squirtle continued down his royal road and into the grand finals as the favorite to win it all.

With the grand finals set, the hype came naturally. A wounded and crippled king of legend against a hero of a new generation looking to bring an era to an end. The predictions between the community were still split, some believing by making it to the finals, Mvp had shown he had enough cunning and determination to win again on the grandest stage. Others thought there was no way of stopping Squirtle and his incredible momentum which had seen him take fourteen straight games off top opponents in the lead-up to the finals.

In a shocking first act to the finals, Squirtle came out of the gates ice cold. In nearly unbelievable fashion, he dropped the first three sets to come within an inch of elimination. Mvp played well – far better than the player who had relied and cheeses and tried to close games before the fifteen minute mark – but the real story was Squirtle's collapse. The pressure of standing on the GSL finals stage for the first time had got to him, and he failed to play up to the standard he had established in the months prior. The Squirtle that had wrecked Terran after Terran at IPL4 and Code S was gone, and in his place was a nervous youth who was rattled by the enormity of the occasion.

Yet, Squirtle would not have made it so far if he didn't have the mental fortitude to recover. Squirtle picked himself and dug deep, finding the same strength that had let him dominate the season up to that point. He took game four in Cloud Kingdom in convincing fashion, outplaying Mvp in a long macro game to extend his tournament life.

Game four was an important confidence booster for Squirtle, but it was game five that totally shifted the momentum of the series. In one of the most insane games of all time, Squirtle and Mvp split the giant map of Metropolis in half, took the island bases, and prepared for a gigantic late game battle with nearly every unit in their respective arsenals.

After a lot of tense posturing and standing off, everything finally came to an explosive climax when the two forces clashed. Mvp's air gigantic battlecruiser fleet moved in for the kill, and Squirtle found himself needing to hit the perfect vortex in order to win. In a rare slip, Mvp allowed his battlecruisers to clump for just long enough to allow Squirtle to suck them down into a single point of space-time. When the battlecruisers reemerged, they were greeted by a furious storm of AoE damage from archons and high templars. Mvp's entire fleet exploded into burning wrecks as Tastosis roared over the action.


Despite winning in such a blockbuster match in game five, Squirtle would not have an easy time in game six. Using an unusual infantry+tank composition, Mvp very nearly broke through defenses with a slow push. However, Squirtle was able to make the correct decisions even in the face of tank fire. While establishing a defensive line across which Mvp could advance no further, Squirtle used zealot runbys to cripple Mvp's economy. Mvp was forced into a final desperation push, but Squirtle had enough troops to smash the army and counter-attack for the victory. The Squirtle who had won fourteen straight games was back, and he had won three straight games to force an epic conclusion in the seventh set.

All the momentum had shifted to be squarely behind Squirtle, and Mvp was in a whole lot of trouble. He had already played six games including a marathon match on Metropolis, which did not bode well for his wrists. He had failed to finish off Squirtle while he was still clueless and shaken, and now he was back to the same monster form that allowed him to rip apart all his other opponents. With all the chips down, Mvp looked like he was completely, utterly screwed.

On the largest map, Atlantis Spaceship, Mvp did the one thing could save him, the one thing that summed up his entire season: he went all-in. Going for a double proxy rax next to Squirtle's base, Mvp went for the only strategy that could work against a player like Squirtle at the height of his power.

It failed.

Squirtle was calm and collected, and knew exactly what he needed to do to defend. Microing with precision, he defended Mvp's attack to near perfection. Up 19 supply to 11, withstanding Mvp's attack and having preserved his stalkers, it seemed like Squirtle had pulled off the greatest comeback in esports history. It was all over, except for one final GG.

For any other player, that might have held true. But Mvp, a player with three championships and limitless of experience, would not leave without going for one last attack to try and turn the tide. In that moment, Squirtle made one of the costliest errors in StarCraft 2 history. Trying to finish Mvp off by taking out the proxy barracks near his base, Squirtle completely underestimated the strength of a follow-up all-in. As Mvp pulled all his SCVs for a last ditch attack, Squirtle was caught overextending much too far from his base. Killing off Squirtle's crucial stalkers with a flank of hidden marines, Mvp was able to push Squirtle back up his ramp and back into his base. The hail mary pass soared from main to main, and finally landed in a bunker next to all of Squirtle's key buildings. As the nexus came crashing down, the final GG came from Squirtle, leaving him to wonder for the rest of his life how he could have thrown such a game. Needing only to reach out and take the championship and all its glory, Squirtle had let snatch it away in front of his very eyes.



When talking about this final, a lot of us point to the fifth game game as the pinnacle of the series, but I disagree. Game seven was the best game we've seen in StarCraft 2. It may have been just twelve minutes long and ended by a cheese rush, but not even the longest and most action-packed macro game could compare to the excitement and emotion in that game.

Down but never out, Mvp refused to die. The story of his entire season, maybe that of his entire career, played out in that one game. The entire season people did not believe in Mvp. He was too hurt to compete at a high level. He was too reliant on cheese and was going to lose to a better player in a long series. All his defeats were crushing, and all his wins inspired more doubt than confidence. It looked like his all-ins had finally come back to bite him, but they ended up being the key to his victory.

Mvp in 2012's Season Two was the weakest champion in GSL history. The Mvp that made MarineKing cry and wiped the floor with TOP during the August finals was long gone. Instead, he was was a cunning player who used his brains, experience, and early game strategies to make it to the finals. If you had replaced Mvp with an unknown Terran, someone with no history, he would have gone down as the cheesiest, most hated champion of all-time.

But it was Mvp. The greatest player of all time, and a player who had no need to prove himself. But prove himself he did. By winning, he showed us that he could win at his very worst, just as he had won at his very best. He showed us that nothing was more important to him than winning, and he would do whatever it took. Championships make Jung Jong Hyun the greatest StarCraft 2 player of all time. It's his spirit that makes him a legend.