EPTThe Past vs the Present
by DarkHorse and stuchiu
This GSL Season has been a clash of the old and the new. You need look no farther than the Round of 8 for proof of that dynamic. Cure against Solar was the new generation of future champions; DRG vs Innovation, the battle of titans whose glory days have passed them by. Zest knocked out Rain to finally claim his spot as the best Protoss on Earth. soO broke Stats' back to meet Zest in the semi-finals. There we saw the third rematch in Zest and soO's rivalry, another clash between the two best players of their respective races. This time soO came out victorious, leaving no doubt that the GSL Finals were his house.
It is reasonably fitting then that the other semi-final is a Terran mirror match. In eons long past GSL had gone by a different name, affectionately known by some as GOMTvT. Despite the derisive epithet, that era introduced us to the most nuanced and nail-biting mirror matchup in SC2. TvT has given some of the best games to have ever been played, showdowns like Ryung vs Flash, MMA vs Mvp, Ryung vs Polt, Gumiho vs MMA, and INnoVation vs Taeja. Throughout nearly all of 2014, that matchup had been missing in the GSL. We had to wait until Season 3 to get our first glimpse of Code S-level games, where Cure slapped down Reality in group stages. Before that, we need to go all the way back to October 3, 2013 for the last GSL TvT. Auspiciously, this will be the first time we will have had a Terran in the finals of a GSL since INnoVation’s 2013 run in WCS KR Season 1.
The Past
For INnoVation, this must all seem like a fever dream. Around a year ago, back when he was clearly the world's best player, the first cracks in his armor were already starting to appear. TvT looked to be his his Achilles' Heel, and many people thought he had been a bit exposed by Bomber when he was beaten badly in the OSL Round of 16. In the semi-finals INnoVation was set up to play Maru, the Prime prodigy that had finally found his way. We all know the story. INnoVation was incapable of keeping up with Maru's early game aggression. He was battered, beaten, and broken in an 0-4 loss that stands as one of the worst defeats in his career.
Here we are again. Once more INnoVation meets a wunderkind Terran in the semi-finals, this time the teammate of the one who struck him down. The resemblance is uncanny. After years of slavishly grinding away, Cure seems to be on a hot streak that no one can fathom. Just like Maru, Cure reached #1 GM on the Korean ladder shortly before kicking into overdrive; like Maru, he crushed his way through the earlier stages of the GSL.
But there are two major differences between now and then. First, INnoVation’s TvT is an absolute mystery at the moment. He has 6 TvTs in 2 months, 3 of them being Bo1s, and none during GSL. Last time Maru went in as the unknown factor, and he exploited that advantage to create the perfect battle plan. This time INnoVation is the one standing in the shadows, formulating strategies against an opponent with an extensive record of recent TvTs.
The second difference is time. INnoVation has endured one year of frustrations, bitter defeats, and humility. The wager he made on the foreign scene didn't pan out as he was constantly beaten back in every individual league he participated in. Though he is no longer the monster he once was, what he has now is that set of references. If INnoVation has taken any lessons from them, then we may see a completely different kind of series tonight. For some that can mean everything. Mvp nearly used experience alone to win a GSL Finals. Others like Flash have almost stubbornly ignored their experiences, and end up dying the same ways they did nearly an year ago.
The Present
Back when the Flash hype train was still alive, people were citing the same stats every day. Flash was 65-17 in map score from July to August, with a total winrate of 79.27%; he looked unstoppable in every matchup and was humiliating top-tier opponents left and right. Cure’s stats are just as incredible. From the beginning of August to now, he has gone 67-27 in maps and 31-4 in series. Even more impressively, he has gone 14-4 in TvT series with wins against Polt, Reality, Gumiho and Ryung. His only series losses were to Sorry, Reality, Bunny and Bomber.
Unfortunately for Cure, that loss to Bomber was the greatest present he could have given to INnoVation. In the Red Bull D.C. finals he got wrecked 0-4, showing INnoVation and the world he was vulnerable in the matchup. On the other hand, losing to Bomber in humiliating fashion may be a stronger sign of Bomber's strength than Cure's weakness. Despite being regarded as a “3rd-rate Terran” by a lot of people, he has recently won series against players like Soulkey, Rain, Flash, INnoVation, and Bbyong.
The parallels between Cure and Maru are uncanny. Both were young up and coming Terrans that instantly lit up and took the scene by storm; both are currently teammates on Jin Air Green Wings; Maru beat INnoVation in his semi-finals run of his OSL Championship and Cure is about to enter the very same situation. Yet how they got there may mean the difference between a GSL finals and wistful defeat. Maru spent years on Prime overcoming his nerves before he won the OSL. Despite his young age, he is one of the few remaining participants from GSL Open Season 1. Cure is a survivor of the KeSPA machine. Many glorify the KeSPA training regime for churning out the great players of the age, and it deserves those accolades 100%. But for every great player made another retired, burned out or never debuted at all. While Cure’s story may not have the poignancy of Maru's and INnoVation's, his struggles have been no less meaningful. So it is here that he will attempt to write the first chapter of his era.
Prediction:
Innovation 4-2 Cure
