CJ Entus: The Unlikely Heroes

A few months ago when this SPL season started, many were naming CJ Entus among the big favorites to take the championship. A promising lineup of up and coming stars and ever improving veterans combined with Coach Park's magic touch - what could possibly go wrong?

In reality they haven't quite managed to live up to expectations. Round 1 was one they wish they could forget, finishing in 6th place and failing to reach the playoffs. CJ went on to do considerably better in the second round, finishing second in group stage. However, they were unable to reach the finals in the Round playoffs, their path barred by Super's might 3-gate.

In Round 3, Coach Park's master plan is inching closer to fruition. With herO leading the line, Hydra and Bbyong stepping up their games and Gumiho, Sora, Hush and apparently even Effort in support, CJ are a very well rounded team.

This especially showed in yesterday's match against Jin Air where Hush stepped up to take a game, herO provided two clutch victories against Rogue and sOs and Bbyong was surprisingly left out in favor of Effort as their final player. That seemingly suicidal move proved to be masterstroke from Coach Park, with EffOrt going on to save CJ as well as Artosis' passion.

But the two toughest teams still lie in wait, with KT being first in line. Team Zest (can we call them that by now?) has decided to send its former torch bearer Flash out first. In a mirror move, CJ has sent out its top star in herO to start this series off with a bang. The PvT matchup is one that is still very divisive, and a lot of top Protoss players in Korea will say that it favors Terran. You could believe them when players like Maru are playing, but it's hard to say if Flash can consistently reach that level. Flash has said in interviews that his TvP winrate in practice is extremely high, but if that's true, it's not showing up in Proleague. On the other hand, herO's weak match-up happens to be PvT, at least compared to his stellar PvZ and PvP.

The first game may turn out to be extremely important for CJ's fate. If herO gets eliminated, then TY and Zest would be favored against anyone else on the team -- not to mention that Flash would still be alive and kicking. While yesterday's match against Jin Air showed that CJ has some hidden depths, it's hard to believe they could survive the loss of herO in the first game.

Should herO win against Flash, KT's player choice will be very interesting to see. herO is a very capable PvPer but Zest may be the best PvPer in the world at the moment. herO and the volatility of the matchup may be CJ's best shot at taking out the reigning GSL champion but at the same time it could be their downfall if Zest emerges victorious. TY recently beat herO in a very one sided game where he made good use of Outboxer's Terrain, but it's dubious if he can beat him without such tricks. And of course, there's always the good ol' reliable Stats, who has always been a productive player for KT.

With herO going first, it might be an issue of seeing how many players he can take out before leaving it to Bbyong to clean up. Bbyong has a weird aura of stability about the sometimes wonky strategies he displays so even if herO falls, Bbyong would be a solid option to fall back on. Yet, Coach Park's willingness to bench him against Jin Air suggests he might not be AS crucial to CJ's success as his 12-4 record suggests. Thus, it falls on herO to do as much as he can to start. Friday night's game was pure magic from Coach Park, even the best magician will have trouble pulling off the same trick twice.

KT Rolster: Flashes of Brilliance

After KT's triumph in the first round and the emergence of Zest as possibly the best player in the world, KT have been usurped by their rivals SKT as Proleague's dominant team. KT haven't looked quite the same after suffering a 0-4 all-kill to Billowy in the Round 2 playoffs, and they achieved a deceptively mediocre 5-2 record in Round 3 (with a so-so 16-11 map score). Their 0-3 loss to SKT marked the turning of the tide, where SKT finally stole back the initiative after being humiliated by KT all year.

Before KT can look to the rematch with their eternal rivals, they'll have to get past CJ first. The round robin meeting between KT and CJ was a closely contested 3-2 win for KT, with Stats pulling through in the ace match against herO. Most notable back then however was TY's dismantling of herO on Outboxer with an innovative tank drop strategy to deny herO's natural gas. Should Flash's standard, solid TvP fail to eliminate the CJ ace in game one, then TY may be a good option to fall back on.

KT's lineup all season has featured mostly the same players - Flash, TY, Zest and Stats. Every now and then Myungsik, Action or hitman would tag in... with mixed success. In the playoffs however I wouldn't expect KT to bust out with Coach Park-esque player picks. The fact that every other team can safely ignore Zerg as a race in their preparations doesn't seem to faze KT head coach HOT-Forever -- he seems committed to playing his best players regardless of race. Besides, he gave his bench players a significantly increased number of chances during the R3 round robin, so now it's time for them to sit back and watch KT's tried and true veterans in the playoffs.

Matchup-wise, KT got a decent one with Flash against herO to start off with. Flash has expressed his confidence against protoss before and herO's recent beatings at the hands of Maru and TY should give an experienced player like Flash a chance to craft something against him.

The one player who still stands out for KT though is Zest. Even though he had poor Round 3 in Proleague, his performances in individual leagues have been nothing short of brilliant and his play continues to impress. With Zest waiting in the wings as the ace, KT's players can go into their matches full of confidence.

Perhaps the most dangerous opponent for Zest would be herO. Bbyong has gathered a strong record this season but Zest doesn't strike me as the type of player who would be disturbed by Bbyong's shenanigans - and he does strike me as the better player in a standard game. Zest's PvP may be fantastic but it's contributed to his downfall this round as players have noticed and studied him thoroughly which resulted in a 1-4 record against protoss this round. Rain even managed to beat him by using a variant of a build that Zest introduced. Still, I have a hard time not favoring Zest over any protoss he plays. Taking him out could very well be the most difficult task for CJ.

Overall thoughts and prediction!

CJ had a tough time against Jin Air but this is an entirely different team - one that is very unlikely to play even a single Zerg as opposed to Jin Air who had two capable Zergs in TRUE and Rogue at the ready. And yet KT's lineup seems a bit more solid all around, with no glaring weaknesses. The only CJ player who on paper has what it takes to do real damage to KT's lines would be herO whereas any of Flash, TY and Zest could do the same to CJ.

KT Rolster 4 -2 CJ Entus