In the end, it all comes down to this all too familiar matchup. SK Telecom T1 and KT Rolster are back in their familiar places on top of the mountain. After dividing the final four Brood War Proleague titles between themselves, the twin titans suffered embarrassment in StarCraft 2. CJ Entus and STX Soul took the first two SC2 Proleague championships, giving hope to all teams that the telecom tyranny had ended at last.

Only time will tell if SKT and KT can fully reestablish their dominance. Jin Air and Samsung gave them a run for their money in round one, and they will continue to make things difficult for them in the future. But tonight, at least, will be a retro night. It will be an old school celebration of StarCraft's two greatest empires.

SK Telecom T1

SKT should be better. Even for a team in the round one finals, that's not an unfair thing to say considering their roster. Rain, PartinG, soO, Soulkey, Classic, Dark, ParalyzE, BrAvO, and hell, even FanTaSy. That's a team that should be crushing other teams into a fine powder and mixing them in with their protein shakes.

Unfortunately, SKT have not reached their potential of being utterly invincible, settling instead at a disappointing "really, really good."

Part of their problem against Samsung was the lack of a credible Terran threat. With Samsung ace RorO having strong ZvZ and stellar ZvP, there wasn't any way for SKT to create a match-up problem for Samsung. RorO was always going to be deployable at any point and against anyone. Sure, he was always going to be hard pressed to carry his team to a win, but there was no one he really had to fear. Fortunately for SKT, the match-up situation against KT is much more favorable. KT's big one-two punch of Flash and TY are Terran, and both are susceptible to top level Protoss players. Those, SKT have in abundance.

Overall, the story for SKT against KT is the same as it was against Jin Air and Samsung. SKT are an all-kill waiting to happen, and they need just one player to go off to get an easy victory. Even if the match gets ugly like it did against Samsung, they have enough sheer quality to force out a win.

KT Rolster

This is a tough one for KT Rolster. TY's 7-0 record in the regular season was truly impressive, but he is not without flaws. Even though he is better than most Terrans against Protoss, it's still a match-up KT would rather have him avoid (his TvP record since December: 6-8). Flash's TvP record is even worse, standing at 3-9 over the same period. And as we mentioned above, SKT has plenty of strong Protoss players who would love to take out either of KT's key Terrans.

Outside TY and Flash, no one on KT really stands out. Stats was the team's third best player at 3-2, and Zest was the fourth best with a 2-4 record. MyuNgSiK and Action also played small, almost negligible roles. Someone on the bench has to step up if KT Rolster are to have a chance in this match, but it's a bench that doesn't inspire much confidence.

Though it looks bad on paper for KT, anyone who's watched Proleague over the years will know someone does inevitable step up. KT are the epitome of a Proleague-first team, even more so than a team like SKT. Regardless of how poorly their players are performing in other tournaments, they always seem to bring their best to important Proleague matches. While newcomers to Proleague might look at Zest's 2-4 record and scoff, SKT fans are looking at him and already wondering what kind of b***shit he's going to pull off in this match before going on to suck in round 2 (they're getting angry right now, imagining this in their heads).

Indeed, it's Stats and Zest who have the best chance of throwing a spanner in the works for SKT. They are fully capable of taking on SKT's Protoss trio in mirror matches, and each Protoss they take out gives TY and Flash more freedom to do their work against SKT's Zerg line. They've drawn a fairly ideal first match in Zest vs Rain, where Zest will attempt to pull a Stork and put SKT on the backfoot.

Overall thoughts and prediction

Besides the ever-looming potential of an all-kill that could come from any of 5-6 players, there are two major factors in this match. If KT can successfully use PvP to thin SKT's Protoss line, TY and Flash have a chance to mop up the rest of the SKT roster. Regardless of the PvP situation, I get the feeling there will be least one pivotal ZvT match between Soulkey and Flash/TY.

Everything points to SKT winning here. Whether it was easy or ugly, they've come up with victories in both previous matches. At the same time, KT never cease to give you the vibe that they will always over-perform in Proleague, conjuring clutch performances out of thin air to steal victory from the jaws of defeat. I'm going with KT to win by a hair.

Prediction: KT win 4-3