SPL '13-14
Playoffs

Intro
Match 1 Lineup

Jin Air Green Wings
#2 Seed

KT Rolster
#3 Seed

Detailed information on
Liquipedia

By banjoetheredskin and Zealously

The 2013-2014 Proleague Playoffs continue after CJ's elimination at the hands of SKT with #2 seed Jin Air Green Wings facing off against #3 seed KT Rolster. Both teams have displayed stunning dominance in Code A, with many of their less recognized players playing better than they ever have. Going into the first Bo7 of this series, this makes the fight for the coveted finals spot all the more fierce and much more difficult to predict.

Jin Air Green Wings:
To New Heights

By banjoetheredskin

Roster
Maru, Cure
TRUE, Rogue, Adios
sOs, Terminator(), Avenge

From the ashes of MBCGame_HERO, Hwaesung Oz, and WeMade FOX rose a dream team of both potential and established stardom. Upon the disbanding of three teams all having fostered some of Brood War's best and most beloved players, KeSPA stepped in to pick up the pieces of the broken trio. From almost three full teams' worth of players all looking ahead at the prospect of retirement, the oft-disliked organization saved 9 of them from prematurely leaving competitive gaming. The Tyrant Jaedong found himself on a new team alongside Proleague monster Sea and the ultimate prodigy, Baby. These three, arguably making up the core of T8's line-up, joined forces with Speed (now known as Cure), Jaehoon, Tyson, Sang (now Terminator), Killer and Ryul2 (later known as Climax, Savage, Rogue).

A cursory glance at the team's roster told most of us that given a little direction and the assistance of a good coach (which they were given in former SKT coach Joo Hoon), there were few heights this roster could not reach. Combining the potential of the newer players with the experience and established skill of players like JD and Sea would inevitably pay off. Right?

For whatever reason, this would never come to pass. Team 8's dream of dominance remained a dream as the team collectively stumbled and fell on repeated occasions. Each time they would get up only to be faced with a new challenge that brought them down, and by the time the final Brood War Proleague ended, they stood – still without an official sponsor - with a lackluster 8-13 record.

Things improved slightly upon the switch to Starcraft II. Going from the bottom of the rankings to a respectable third place finish in the chaotic hybrid season, things looked as if they might just be heading in the right direction for Team 8. But things are never easy and as pillars JD and Sea left the team to join EG and TL respectively, things looked even more grim than they had in the past. With no clear ace-level player on the team and the newer generation of players yet to reach a level where they could fill the void left by the two Brood War stars, what was left for the unsponsored team?

Fast forward.

The New Team 8

Jin Air Green Wings are the hottest team in all of Proleague going into the season-end playoffs. They are the only team to have won more than one round playoffs, claiming first in both Round 2 and Round 4. They also have a fairly deep roster full of dangerous players, and with the bo7 format of these playoffs, it could pay dividends to see production from the talent we know they have.

The Terrific Trio

The Marine Prince. The $100.000 Man. The Dark Horse. Jin Air have, with a formidable player in all three races, an advantage no other team claim. Maru is an OSL/WCS KR Champion, and a regular in the latest stages of GSL. Since his OSL championship last year he has remained among top 3 terrans in the world, and is considered by many to hold the #1 spot. Once little more than a cheesy player who stunned the winning machine that was INnoVation in early HotS, Maru has developed into a very well-rounded player who manages to control macro games with his high-octane aggression as a way to balance out and back up his notorious arsenal of cheddar. He has been nothing short of magnificent this season, sitting atop the Proleague standings with a hard-earned 27-17 record that has seen Jin Air through many of their toughest challenges.

sOs is a Blizzcon and IEM Katowice champion with over $260,000 to his name, which has rightfully earned him the nickname $O$. And when you look at how sOs has won his two premier tournaments, it should not be any surprise that he was Proleague's third best player this season, with a stellar 24-12 record. His biggest advantage is his ability to invent killer builds that baffle opponents with the broadest range of allins and mind games that protoss has to offer. From cannon rushes to carriers in confounding situations, sOs utilizes every trick in the book to enhance his repertoire, and he has proven that his preparation for a series will always outdo yours. Just ask CJ herO.

As the third part of the trifecta, TRUE has shown remarkable improvement recently. Making a run to the Ro4 of GSL (in which he beat the reigning champion Zest), picking up a three-kill in the Round 4 finals looking solid all the way, there is no longer any question about the quirky Zerg's skill. TRUE is a bit of an enigma though, as his success is still over a short enough duration for one to speculate that perhaps he is just another flash in the pan, riding some momentum. However, his games have looked impressive and not necessarily pure luck. In his GSL run, he toppled the reigning champion Zest with smart play that directly countered the King Slayer's playstyle. Then in the Round 4 playoffs, against soO, what looked like just a gamble could very well have been a more planned counter to soO’s style.
He also obviously studied Rain’s previous games as he perfectly defended an allin on King Sejong Station that had taken down his zerg teammate Rogue in a past meeting. Against Classic, the GSL champion who won his title with solid, standard PvZ, TRUE simply outplayed him with a sharp mutalisk timing. The evidence exists to make an argument that TRUE is now a great player very worthy of a regular starting spot, especially in the Proleague format where his obviously thorough preparation proves valuable.

Each of the players in Jin Air’s Terrific Trio performed a three-kill in the Round 4 Playoffs, and while it is easy to say they just rode a hot streak and are overdue for a regression towards the mean, having even one or two of the trinity play as well as they did in Round 4 could be enough to beat any team.

Not Your Average Average Bench

Probably the scariest player on Jin Air’s roster not part of the trifecta is Rogue. He has had a rough time in individual leagues, unable to make Code S in GSL Season 1 and falling out in the Ro32 in Season 2 (subsequently being eliminated from Code A). Barring a few great games, Rogue has performed decently at best this season, ending the regular season with a 15-12 record. However, it was hard to ignore the player who looked on the verge of becoming the next big thing when he tore through the IEM Katowice Asian qualifiers, beating players like Zest and Soulkey in convincing fashion.
But his quick departure from the main event at the hands of Life’s stellar ZvZ left us with only speculations and unanswered questions. It was, however, recognized that he had been rank 1 Grandmaster on the Korean server around that time, which has in the past been indicative of legitimate talent, as seen in players Life, Innovation, and Maru. In short, we know he’s good, but it's hard to know exactly how good, or how good he can be.

The next player worth noting is Cure. Cure's season defines average with a 9-9 record and a 50% winrate in each matchup to complete a coincidental example of mediocrity. However, among the players he has beaten are a few guys called Zest, TY, herO, and Classic. Not too shabby. Cure also recently qualified for Code A second in his group behind Rain and ahead of Impact and Hydra, and beat the likes of Curious, Journey, Creator, Super, Maru, and Action in the IEM Shenzhen qualifiers. He has been just barely too inconsistent to be a regular starter, always losing and make Coach Ryu Won doubt and bench him just when he starts to show promise again. However, his success in the past month indicates that he could be playing better than ever, and might not be just a solid bench player but the next star for Jin Air.

Then there is the veteran Terminator. To be frank, Terminator’s Proleague performance has been pretty abysmal. He is 3-7 on the season, with an atrocious 1-6 record in PvP, probably the most important matchup in Proleague. He did make a surprise appearance in the Round 4 playoffs against Samsung Galaxy, but lost to Solar. Recently, Terminator went 4-0 in his Code A group, all in the PvZ matchup against Leenock and EffOrt. Against KT specifically, PvZ is the least important matchup, and if that is his specialty then he could be rendered largely useless. Although, that's not to say Terminator couldn't have improved all-around; of that we cannot be not sure. Advancement from Code A with a peculiar 4-0 record shows a great deal of promise, but how much can we attribute to Terminator instead of the failings of his opponents?

Finally, there is Avenge (adiós Adios, you’re irrelevant still), the ex-retired Startale captain. Avenge barely managed to qualify for Code A through the wildcard spot, upsetting pretty much everyone by beating MarineKing in the finals. In his interview afterwards he said that he is not as good as his teammates and that’s why we haven’t seen him make an appearance in Proleague yet. However, he too managed to 4-0 his Code A group, taking down Sora and Sleep, and we have to wonder if he’s either humble, has made the necessary improvements in that short amount of time, or got a bit lucky. Based on Terminator's performance, added to sOs' and TRUE's apparent knack for preparation, it is reasonable to say that Avenge and Terminator could both come out dangerous with planned builds and perhaps rejuvenated form.

General Outlook

Overall, Jin Air are looking insanely hot and primed to beat pretty much anyone, even SKT in an eventual finals. The slightly greater depth they have with five at-least-decent players and two wild cards in Avenge and Terminator seems to favor them over KT’s heavy reliance on their core four. However, between Code S, Code A, and the Round 4 playoffs, there is ample material to study and analyze in order to prepare against Jin Air. Even so, given what happened when Hydra tried to prepare a sniper build against Jin Air ace Maru, KT should be wary of putting their players at risk through funky builds and prepared strategies.

TRUE has shown that he is not to be outdone in preparation and studying when given enough time. The ever-unpredictable sOs always seems to be the one sniping his opponents, even when the opponent was supposed to snipe him to begin with. Not to be too complacent, however, Maru is still as susceptible to being hard countered as any other player, and KT's snipers for him are likely of a higher caliber than Hydra (think of how soO beat him in the Round 4 finals). TRUE could still prove to be a fluke and fade back into mediocrity. sOs' prepared build could fail miserably under any number of circumstances, completely thwarting any reliance on him to carry if things go poorly.

While they have the potential to make important contributions to the Jin Air playoff effort, Cure and Rogue are both also at risk of showing up in the kind of form that could see them lose to pretty much anyone on KT's roster. The critical formula for Jin Air will be the Terrific Trio +1 . If Maru, sOs, and TRUE can all win their games, Jin Air only need a win from one other player to win the best of 7. Asking all three of these players in their current form to win is not as tall of an order as it might seem, nor should asking any one of the bench players to win. That said, an ace match is not the most relaxing position for Jin Air when KT has its own lineup of heavy hitters waiting to duke it out. Therefore it must be emphasized that for Jin Air to TRUEly feel comfortable with their chances against KT, they will need at least two of their bench players, likely Cure and Rogue, to show up completely fueled up and ready to take flight.

Roster
Flash, TY, Miso (?)
Action, hitmaN, Sleep,
Zest(), Stats, MyuNgSiK

More so than probably any other team bar none, KT Rolster are known for their reliance on one star player. With their roots in the very earliest days of Brood War, they have gone through many iterations. The team has changed identities many times, boasting everything between an amateur lineup to a star-studded line-up of champions. KT Rolster (previously known as KTF MagicNs) have housed players like Reach and YellOw and struggled for superiority over the Korean scene with rival SK Telecom T1 for countless years. Then, some time toward the end of Brood War, KT became the team of one young Terran.

It isn't strange that a player of Flash's caliber would steal the spotlight away from the other players on his team, but it isn't a secret that the rest of KT was mediocre at best. With the exception of a few rare moments (HoeJJa in playoffs), Flash alone carried KT on his shoulders for long stretches of time and brought his team to three consecutive Proleague playoffs, all while winning Starleagues on the side.

Known as both the Ultimate Weapon and the God of Brood War, everyone – especially Flash – knows how high expectations were on Lee Young Ho as KeSPA switched to Brood War. In an almost comical repeat of his year's as KT's savior, Flash still ended up leading KT Rolster to the playoffs and landing atop the rankings to win the Season MVP award. While he wasn't as impressive outside Proleague as he had been in Brood War, Flash was still the by far most important piece of KT's puzzle and the biggest contributor to the team's success in SCII.

Fast forward.

A New Hope

KT have won two championships in Starcraft II: 2014 GSL Season 1 and GSL's Global Championship. Neither was won by Flash. In fact, the player that played the by far most important role in the team's success last season is only barely edging out teammate and double champion Zest in the rankings. While Flash ended last season with a 44-17 record, more than 15 wins ahead of Zest, his 20-15 record this round in comparison with Zest's 18-13 or TY's 14-10 marks a paradigm shift. KT Rolster is no longer a one-man crew, and even if they were, there are no guarantees that it would be Flash's crew.

But one cannot talk about KT's latest iteration without mentioning their greatest weakness: their overreliance on the core players. While SKT, Jin Air and CJ all possess line-ups that at the very least allow them some wiggle room, KT has fielded the same four – Zest, Stats, Flash and TY – in the vast majority of their matches this season. It has worked out for them, granted, but when facing teams like IM and MVP, one can get away with the kind of predictability that will get you punished in multiple Best of 7's against a team of Jin Air's caliber.

Almost five years ago, Arrian wrote a Final Edit about a KT Rolster struggling to create a new identity with a roster full of championship contenders that all seemed to falter in the situations where it mattered. The KT of today, in a new game and a new competitive environment with a roster that looks very little like that of five years ago, have been similar.

Until, that is, Zest opened the way to success by tearing through GSL Season 1 in his first ever attempt to win it. Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, the rest of KT followed.
After spending most of the time since the switch struggling with the GSL qualifiers and never quite getting as far as the fans had hoped, it seems like this is to be KT's moment. Never before having more than two players in Code S, the '13-14 SPL playoffs have coincided with the greatest improvement the team has seen in SC2. Flash, Zest and Myungsik – having made Code S on different occasions but never all at once - will be joined by TY and Stats to make 5 players among GSL's top 32, a feat not many teams can match. Finally, KT has a line-up that isn't all about one player, but a team.

The Core Four

Last season, KT spent much of the season near the top of the rankings on the back of Flash's consistent performances and Zest rising in the all-kill format. This season, things look very different. Rather than mostly one player raking in the wins with two more occasionally showing promise, four players have been key to KT's success this season, contributing to more than 85% of KT's map wins. These are:

Flash
SPL record: 20-15 (57%)
Strongest match-up*: TvT (5-2)

Despite Zest's GSL runs and the appearance of TY alongside him on the team, Flash remains the go-to ace player of KT. Epitomizing standard macro play and cautiously calculated risk-taking just as he did in Brood War, Flash's skills lie in the later stages of the game where his superior macro management can be allowed to shine. Favoring mech and a style of play different from most other Terrans, Flash rarely attempts to beat his opponents by simply being faster. Preferring to play a style one might call the ”anti-Polt”, Flash sets himself apart by – some might say stubbornly – attempting to create his own style rather than following suit and copying others.

As a master of TvT, Flash is probably the opponent Jin Air will most want Maru to avoid when it comes down to the all-kill format. On the note of avoiding things, that is exactly what Flash will want to do with sOs. Sporting a decent 7-7 record this season, TvP seems to be where most of Flash's troubles lie. Resorting to SCV pulls with some frequency, it seems like Flash would be happier avoiding Protoss altogether.

Zest
SPL record: 18-13 (58%)
Strongest match-up: PvZ (7-1)

As the only player to all-kill in the finals of a round playoffs, Zest has spent much of his season slaughtering Zergs and SKT players. While he hasn't really been able to channel the kind of mojo that allowed him to tear through SKT in the round 1 playoffs (and subsequently win GSL), Zest is still good enough to be a threat in any of the three match-ups, particularly vZ and vP. Facing sOs on Frost, Zest also happens to have the match-up that might decide the outcome of the whole match.

TY
SPL record: 14-10
Strongest match-up: TvT (5-2)

Providing the support the KT bench desperately needed after their disappointing exit at the hands of STX last season, TY is the only one of the core four not to have made an ace match appearance, but this is more a product of Flash's presence on the team than any lack of faith from KT management. As one of the players at the forefront of both preparation and innovation, TY has had his fair share of stomps this season as he has brought out numerous previously unseen builds that have caught his opponents completely off-guard. While TY is unlikely to appear in an ace match, he is the player Jin Air needs to be most afraid of. Zest, Flash and Stats can be taken at face value – they are strong players, but rarely players from whom you would expect something out of the ordinary. As for TY? Ask Soulkey.

Stats
SPL record: 12-10
Strongest match-up:

Out of KT's core four, Stats is by far the player we have talked the least about. Is it because he has looked somewhat uninspired in his games, or simply because he hasn't been as dominant as Protoss teammate Zest? Naturally, it's hard for a player to receive any significant attention on a team that also houses Flash, Zest and TY, but there is reason aplenty to believe in Stats:

• He was fielded in the ace match against CJ Entus, where he took out herO on King Sejong Station
  
• He made Code S yesterday by beating Life and Rogue
  
• Despite periodically looking mediocre, KT have stuck with fielding Stats, indicating either a confidence in his skill (supported by his ace match appearance) or a lack of confidence in the rest of the bench. Given the generally good records of Sleep and Action, we can assume that it is the first option.

*only SPL games were counted

The Eternal Rivalry

After SKT's nail-bitingly close victory over CJ Entus, the stage is set for yet another rematch of the original progaming rivalry – that of the two Telecom giants. Ignoring the abomination that was the 2011-2012 Hybrid Proleague, last season was the first time in four full seasons (Shinhan Bank, 2008) a Telecom team didn't make the Proleague finals. In fifteen full Proleague seasons, only three of them have not had a Telecom team in the finals.

This has spawned a rivalry of a magnitude of which there are no others in eSports. Even if the teams have not always openly competed against one another, KT and SKT have a history of fierce battle that stretches back to the early '00s. This rivalry has survived the complete reneweals of both team, making it the only rivalry in Starcraft that is bigger than the players on either team.

SK Telecom have reached the Proleague finals for the 10th time. One year ago, it seemed unlikely that KT Rolster could do the same. But now, with their line-up bolstered and their confidence soaring, there is real opportunity for KT. A chance to overcome the various weaknesses that have plagued them for most of their time in Starcraft II and prove that no matter the game, the Telecoms will always stand on top. Jin Air Green Wings stand in their way.

Writers: Zealously, banjoetheredskin
Complimentary writing: Zealously
Images: KeSPA
Editors: Zealously, lichter