EPTSemi-finals Day 2 Preview
SKT_soO vs Jin_Air_TRUE
by stuchiu
The Silver Paved Road
Last year when
soO made the GSL finals, he was the anomaly, an aberration. He was a player many did not recognize or know. He was lauded by the prophet MajOr to be the next big Zerg, but for the rest he was just another face in the crowd. He was the last remnant of the SKT Zerg line. Despite--or perhaps because of a hunger caused by--all that he eventually made it to the finals over the likes of Innovation, Parting and Soulkey. Unfortunately for soO, his road ended there as he fell to the hands of Dear and took his first ever silver medal. And once again, he was cast aside. And by the time the next GSL rolled around, most of the fans had either forgotten about his run or marked it as luck. When the list of favorites for the season was compiled by the mass majority of casters and fans alike, they continued to name other Zergs as contenders for the best Zerg in the world. Players like Soulkey, Life, HyuN, Jaedong, and RorO were all mentioned before soO, if they even remembered to put soO on their lists at all. But soO is used to being the forgotten Zerg, and I doubt it mattered to him. Because he would force everyone to recognize him through his victories alone.
In his GSL Season 1 2014 run, soO outperformed them all again. RorO failed to even make Code S. Jaedong fell in the Ro32 of WCS AM. Soulkey failed in his Ro16 group of death. Life personally fell at the hands of soO. And once again, the Forgotten Zerg found himself in the finals. It was soO's second consecutive finals, a feat that no other player had ever done beyond Mvp. And once again, soO fell short. He lost to Zest in a close 4-3 series and had to return home with another silver medal.
It was more of the same this season, neglected and treated as some common Zerg. And now for the third time in a row. soO is on the cusp of a third consecutive GSL Final, a feat that no one has ever done. There's a real possibility of soO getting his third consecutive 2nd place medal, but it feels wrong to put him into the same line as other silver surfers like MKP and Squirtle because of the mental fortitude he has shown to keep climbing back up after each demoralizing failure.
When MKP lost in the GSL Finals, he often broke apart and wavered between either deep runs into the GSL or instant elimination in Code S. After his finals against Mvp, Squirtle was broken by the disappointment and he was never quite the same again. soO should have been broken by Dear after Dear beat him in his first GSL title challenge. He should have broken after Zest came back to beat him in his second finals 4-3. He should have broken after Zest beat him again in the semi-finals of the GSL Global Tournament. And yet soO keeps persisting. Someone knocks soO down and he just gets right back up and plays his game. He doesn't break and he doesn't crack, and he has shown that he might be the most mentally composed player in SC2 today. He is the Iron-Willed Zerg.
And that is what makes soO so strong. He is a rock. He is order. He stays composed in both victory and defeat. His mechanics are solid, his strategies fantastic, his decision making good and his build orders versatile. But for soO, this could be his toughest challenge yet as the player he faces here is his polar opposite in every aspect of the game.
The Chimera
One year agoTRUE was on the verge of retiring. He was having problems with his parents, likely due to the state of his career. Despite playing one of the best series of 2013 against Fantasy, his results in both Proleague and individual leagues were lacking. Team8 was on the cusp of disbanding, and no one would have blamed him if he had given it all up then. Players in much better positions than him had already retired. But TRUE persisted. And now, just one year later, TRUE is on the brink of reaching his first ever GSL Finals. He is just one series win away and all he has to do is defeat soO, the order to TRUE's chaos. soO is the very definition of a solid zerg, an all-around player that can use almost any of the standard styles to perfection. Compared to the two time GSL Finalist, TRUE almost seems... half insane. He is a chimera made up of all the most insane Zergs in the history of SC2.
His ZvT is half Nestea, half Life. There isn't a problem that can't be solved with banelings. The Terran is about to attack? Time to make some banelings. The Terran is ahead in supply? Time for some banelings. Terran is maxed out? Nevermind, I have 130 banelings. Against Protoss, he's used every strategy in the book. He'll base trade like soO, he'll do a 3-base ling all in like hyvaa, he'll 10 pool like Shine, or he can go late game like Soulkey. And it was that late game play that broke the defending Champion, Zest.
In his games against the Protoss Champion, TRUE's unorthodoxy thoroughly dismantled Zest. As a two time GSL Champion, the KT Ace was considered one of the few players as consistent as soO. His comeback against the Kong-in-the-making and his reverse sweep against PartinG in the GSL Global Tournament were both spectacular feats of strength. If anyone knows how to keep his clutch it should have been Zest. There were few who expected him to have much trouble against TRUE in the quarterfinals, and the Jin Air man was supposed to be the sacrificial lamb that Zest had to slaughter on his way to a third straight GSL Final. By the end of the day, people were expecting orange sized holes in TRUE.
Instead, what we got was TRUE breaking Zest. After dropping the initial game, TRUE stuck to his mass long queen corruptor strategy, forcing Zest to play the game on his terms. Though Alterzim gave Zest the time and space to reach his desired composition, the other maps did not prove as favorable. He was left confounded by TRUE's bizarre timing attack; his stargate builds were nullified allowing TRUE to stay one step ahead in tech. By pushing the Protoss into the paths that he had planned, instead of sitting back and playing reactively, TRUE denied his opponent any chance at rallying for a comeback. By the end of the match, all the clutch decision making that had characterized Zest' 2014 career had seemingly left him. Instead, what we got in the final game was the most soulless train to ever depart a station since PartinG's games against soO in 2013. It was such a terrible attack that TRUE's slow lings and mass queens were enough to stomp it to the ground.
And TRUE is that kind of player. He might not be the most solid or most consistent; he isn’t pushing the meta forward; he isn’t an all-around player like soO or Soulkey. But he may be one of the most dangerous and exciting players to have ever played in the GSL. You never quite know what TRUE will pull out next, and he's drawing from a bag of tricks that no one else has even peaked into. He may be the underdog, especially after soO's masterclass ZvZ against Solar, but if so he is the most dangerous underdog we’ve ever had. You need only to go look at his quarter finals match to see the truth of that. And by the end of the night we will know what force is stronger: Order or Chaos.
Overall Predictions:
ZvZ is in a mostly stable state right now with most players favoring mass roach compositions. From there they either go into roach burrow harass, hydras, infestors or baneling roach attacks. Players rarely transition out of Lair tech, but as players become more cautious and conservative in their approach to roach wars, Hive tech ZvZ has slowly become a possibility. Rogue vs soO from their SPL match is one such example of late game ZvZ, and soO did not fair particularly well against TRUE's teammate. Will TRUE identify this lategame weakness as a possible hole in soO's seemingly impenetrable ZvZ?
Because of the stability in modern ZvZ most players at the top trade evenly and avoid falling into the trap of losing to timing attacks or using cheeses of their own. More often than not, battles are won through positioning and army movement more than build orders. But just as roach battles are difficult to predict, it's difficult to separate these two when it comes down to pure skill. Therefore the two most important factors tonight should be the build order mindgames on each map and the ability of these players to keep their cool once the pressure ramps up. Scouting is always a key to success in this matchup, and their reactions and ability to predict their opponent will be tested in this semi final. Because of that, I'll favor soO just slightly due to his experience, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if TRUE rolls his way to victory.
soO 4 - 3 TRUE
