EPTDay 3 Preview: Back in the Spotlight
by Gemini
With Proleague now back in full swing it will be interesting to see how players will manage their practice between individual leagues and the highly praised team league. Another engaging subject continues to be the relationship between the hardcore Korean players and the so called international Koreans. We have seen an interesting result in Terminator vs TaeJa already and perhaps another one awaits us on Day 3. Dear and Patience go head to head in the last match of the day in a rather intriguing PvP. Not only does it fit the hot topic of Korean Koreans vs Foreign Koreans but it’s also one of returning to the big stage. Both these players have proven their ability in the past and failed to follow up on it, and this match is a prime moment for both of them to correct that.
Dear is a player who has seen his fair share of finals. However, since leaving Mouz he has fallen completely off the radar. He went months before playing in another tournament and only just recently has he shown that he was at one point considered the best Protoss in the world. Not only did he qualify for his position in this SSL match but also for the upcoming GSL Code S where he made his name. On top of all this he played for Samsung in their opening match of the new Proleague season and took out a well versed herO with extremely solid PvP. Dear’s rise back to power has been long awaited by fans and this PvP Bo5 could easily be the start to another one of those glory runs.
Patience on the other hand has really only seen the limelight once: in the form of a debut appearance at Dreamhack Winter 2013, placing third out of absolutely nowhere. He too was placed on a high pedestal and was seen as a player with great potential. Unfortunately, that pedestal had a poor foundation and we saw his great success come to a crashing halt as he failed to produce a similar result in any other major tournament he entered. WCS EU was a complete letdown for the young hopeful as he could never breach through the Ro32. Succeeding Dreamhack tournaments also never witnessed more than a top 8 finish from Patience. Now, after his stretch of experience playing in the European scene, he has come back to Korea and somehow qualified for SSL after beating SuperNova, Billowy, Rain, and (to this writer's embarrassment) HerO, when everyone expected him to be one of the last Western Koreans to do well this year. He seems to have found some hot form once more, and with Dear also finding his stride recently this match should at the very least be an interesting one.
Before we get to their match, the show opens with another mirror match between sKyHigh vs GuMiho. sKyHigh has been on a tear recently out of seemingly nowhere with a 3rd/4th place finish in the Hot6ix Cup over players like Classic, Flash and Bbyong. His TvT easily seems to be his strong point at the moment as he is blowing through every terran opponent he’s put up against, however struggling vs the other races. To get to the main SSL event he’ll only need to rely on his TvT so he will definitely be looking at this match with confidence. But with losing games to even TerrOr in the qualifiers, he’s going to need more than TvT to go any farther. GuMiho has also been doing better recently with a solid top 8 finish at IEM San Jose. He hasn’t been playing much TvT though, so it’s difficult to say just how good he’s feeling in the match up. Beating TaeJa to qualify for SSL is nothing to scoff at however. One thing he has going for him is that he has a plethora of games to study, while his opponent does not, which could end up swinging the tide in GuMiho’s favor.
Another interesting match follows next with Stats vs INnoVation. The current GSL champion is continuing to look as good as ever, qualifying for SSL in flying colors (except for a little hiccup vs TRUE. He avenged himself so we’ll forget about that) as well as qualifying for GSL without dropping a single map. The ball is going to be in Stats’ court to make this a match worth watching. Not to say Stats has not proved his mettle in the past, but given INnoVation’s current form it’s going to be quite the mountain to climb. Ever since his 3-0 against TY in WECG in September, Stats has only lost to terrans, one of them being INnoVation himself. While the match still has the potential to be a great one, it’s going to be up to Stats to make the plays, otherwise the mechanical macro machine won't stop for him.
Predictions
sKyHigh 3 - 1 GuMiho
Stats 1 - 3 INnoVation
Patience 2 - 3 Dear
I don't mind.
