SPOTV Starleague 2015 Season 1

Brackets and standings on Liquipedia
Starleague

Thursday, Dec 18 10:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)

by Heartland and Brindled

If the esteemed fellows from Day 1 of this tournament were players that could use their performances to redeem themselves, the players that face off against each other on Day 2 are mostly names that could potentially make it to the end of the tournament. Flash, Life, and Solar are all names that command significant clout; it is hard to see the winners from these matches not ending up in the playoffs, given their reputations. Who ends up participating in the final matches of this tournament could very well be decided here from these 3 unassuming TvZ’s. On the Terran side of the house, Flash’s victory could signal another great run like in HSC X. But Flash’s exeunt on Day 2 would be just another disappointing reminder of his not-so-stellar results in Starcraft II to the adherents of the God-Terran. I even risk mortal sin by just writing that. On the Swarm's side, the likes of Rogue and potentially Leenock or ByuL (if they make it through) would have to pick up the slack for Zerg’s chances if Solar and Life are knocked out, as a large chunk of the tournament’s Zerg power presence will be gone.

It's also been over 20 months since a foreigner last fought Koreans on their home turf. Back then it was Stephano who made it through Up and Down Matches but left Korea and his spot in the ro32 before he could play. Foreigner history in Korea was a bleak affair even before Stephano, with notable exceptions being NaNiwa's double ro8 runs. It was only at the start of Starcraft II that non-Koreans were able to seriously challenge the masters of E-Sports. Now, it is time again for one of the great foreign hopes to try and achieve fame and glory in Korea: Sasha 'Scarlett' Hostyn of Team Acer.

Foreigners have been doing better in 2014 than in 2013 much in part due to Scarlett and a few other choice players, and so it makes perfect sense for her to be given a spot in the SSL. She has had a year full of victories and good showings against some of the best Koreans. However, her career has also been marred by unexpected losses and setbacks to players considered weaker than her. We can only assume that the other invited unnamed foreigner (who wasn't able to participate) was Snute, who appears to be the only other non-Korean able to compete at the highest levels of play.

One of the greatest threats in Korea is not the players but rather nerves. MaNa said that his hands were shaking so much when he was playing in the GSL that he almost couldn't use his mouse. Scarlett has beforehand expressed, in her usual sardonic tone, doubt about her own chances since she plays worse when she has a lot of expectations on her. Can she keep her cool?

In KT_TY, Scarlett has a formidable opponent who exemplifies the new strategical depth that Terran brings to the table. TY is in the shadow of KT Rolster's ace Flash but has been instrumental in the teams Proleague victory. He plays aggressively and creatively. Against Dark a few months ago he stomped the SKT T1 zerg through - among other things - a barracks floated from low ground to high ground which allowed him to wall in his marines and cripple Dark enough to smash him in the late game. TY is no Has or sOs who rely on bizarre plots and heavy investment in early game assaults but plays a more lean style which leads from his aggressive openings into strong macro play.

Scarlett has similarly started to favour more unorthodox openings with proxy hatches and other wild CatZ-esque shenanigans. She herself has proclaimed that she's lost hope in the macro ling-bling-muta style against terran and is forced into new ways of strategizing in the battle against humanity. It's not unlikely that their games will come down to a wild array of build orders interacting in chaotic ways where quick thinking and decision making will be the most important skills to have.

No matter how many times the argument that it is strange to cheer for someone just because they belong to the nebulous "foreigner" (meaning usually: western and white) world is repeated and no matter how much sense the argument makes there will still be armies of fans tuning in to see her play in Korea because she is a foreigner. This is the test of the best: can you survive in the hardest leagues against the hardest opponents? If Scarlett can, then she'll reclaim that coveted position in the foreigner world where it's not strange to believe that she can beat someone like Bomber, or someone like PartinG. Then she will truly be one of the world's greatest and will once more inspire hope that foreigners are not just some gimmicky mascots to the real players of the game.

The first match of the day pits the Dreamhack Stockholm winner, Samsung_Solar, against the IEM Katowice runner up, SKT_Dream. While Solar is strong zerg player whose talents shine brightly more so in ZvP, his ZvT unfortunately isn’t so sweet. On a redeeming note, his last major tournament run at Dreamhack Winter ended at the hands of ForGG, who would turn out to be the tournament’s champion. Furthermore, his last two games against terran were wins against Apocalypse on maps that statistically favor terran. His opponent, Dream, in contrast hasn’t been doing so hot against Zerg as of late. In both GSL Code A and the Proleague, he has lost 7 out of 10 games against zerg opponents and most noticeably (and most recently) against Solar himself. Given the players’ recent match against each other, combined with Dream’s lack of 1v1 tournament games under his belt compared to his opponent, this match may well favor Solar.

The day’s 2nd TvZ will feature a clash of titans, with ST_Life facing off against KT_Flash. Life, fresh from his WCS title and 2nd place Dreamhack finish is probably raring for a chance at another high placing finish. Consistently defeating TaeJa at both Blizzcon and twice at the most recent Dreamhack puts Life in a very strong position both play-wise and mentally against Terran. His opponent however, is a deity is Flash. The greatest Brood War player in the game's history has seemingly shown recent strength against Zerg players. Digging deeper into it though, the Ultimate Weapon's whopping 7 out of 10 victories over zergs are against players who have not recently had strong showings: Snute, TLO, and Losira. Flash's last two games against zerg were lost to Soulkey, who himself has also not been performing very strongly. But, only time will tell what kind of builds and machinations he will most certainly have prepared for this very high caliber zerg player.

With these two monsters of their specific race on a collision course against each other in the second match of the day, the games that will result will surely be a sight to behold. It seems iffy that Flash should prevail over Life on this day, but any given tournament day one Starcraft player will beat another. One needs only to believe? With Life favored in this match, we may have a crisis of faith.


Predictions:

Solar 3-0 Dream
Life 3-1 Flash
Scarlett 2-3 TY

Writers: Heartland, Brindled.
Graphics: shiroiusagi.
Editors: DarkLordOlli