Thursday, Feb 05 10:00am GMT (GMT+00:00) by DarkLordOlli
Naver's SC2 Starleague is already entering its first playoff stages and everything's looking very interesting. Balance is as good as it gets: 3 protoss, 2 terrans, 3 zergs. It includes veterans of the scene like Life and Leenock as well as rising stars like Dream and Rogue. There are champions like Dear and Maru and players who have improved vastly and are now looking for a big win, like Stats and Super. Day 1 features all in one, with Leenock facing Maru in an old school TvZ while Stats and Rogue, two players whose form only points upwards, also fight for a semifinal spot.
Old Souls
It feels funny to call Leenock and Maru veterans due to their age (or lack thereof), but on Day 1 they deserve to be called that. Both have been around since early on in Wings of Liberty and both are enjoying quite the resurgence in 2015. Compared to Stats and Rogue, who play the second match of the night, they've got more SC2 experience to show for themselves. But not just their past results are impressive. Leenock just won his Ro16 group and finished the first round of Proleague with a good 4-2 record, including wins over players like Zest and sOs. Maru on the other hands is running red hot at the moment, coming off an extremely close second place at IEM Taipei and a successful first round in both NSSL and GSL. Funny enough however, both players have failed to win a Proleague match against their opponent's race this round.
This however is a challenge they haven't had a go at in a while: a Best of 5 in a preparation-based individual league. With lots of games from both out there to study, and both players' proven ability to specifically tailor builds to counter opponents, there are definitely interesting games in store. Both should come in with the necessary confidence to come out swinging, so this promises to be a cracking start to NSSL's Ro8.
Prediction:
Leenock 1 - 3 Maru
Young Souls
Each competition has its dark horses, and both Rogue and Stats would have made for excellent hipster picks at the start of this season. There have been rumors of Rogue's highly impressive ladder performances over the past few months, and his broadcasted showings have begun to reflect that form. He's still in the running in both GSL and NSSL and helped Jin Air advance to the Proleague R1 Finals with a 4-2 record throughout the first round as well as his two wins against CJ.
Stats' recent match history is damn impressive. He's gone about his business quietly, even though he's taken down Life, Bbyong, herO, Classic, YoDa, soO and INnoVation in his last eight matches, a record only tainted by one Proleague loss to Marineking. That lineup would be a pretty stacked Ro8 by itself and Stats has proven himself capable to take on and beat players of that caliber.
With both players seemingly on top of their game and constantly improving, this is a great chance to see where they're truly at. Perhaps one of them can even go all the way.
I dunno, Kev, something tells me that Leenock might finally get his premier win in Korea this time. He has so many Maru vs Z to study and having Choya as your friend is never bad.
On February 12 2015 06:58 SC2Toastie wrote: Jin Air ezpz
Maru tvz is best in the world, rogue zvp is sick good and stats is easily exploitable
Isn't it like first time in century when Maru's TvZ is proclaimed as best in the world? :p Stats will win ezpz, 2-base every game, Rogue will just crumble even if I want hiim to win.
On February 12 2015 06:59 oo_Wonderful_oo wrote: I dunno, Kev, something tells me that Leenock might finally get his premier win in Korea this time. He has so many Maru vs Z to study and having Choya as your friend is never bad.
One does not simply study Maru's proxy 2-rax. Its power lies in more than just theory. There is skill in execution that does not falter, and the virtuoso hands are peerless, wrists wracked with inflammation. Not with a thousand replays could you beat this. It is folly.
After beating Inno and Life, nobody talks about Stats. I'm thinking even if he won SSL, if you did a vote on who's the best Korean Protoss at the moment, he'd probably somehow get less votes than Terminator. But I'm gonna say he beats Rogue anyways. And if he doesn't it's fine, Rogue's my favorite Zerg (he'd be even if he didn't have a One Piece OST as his Proleague theme).
Maru's TvZ looked pretty good at IEM and he's had ample time to prepare, but Leenock's no slouch. Still predicting a Maru win.
On February 12 2015 07:50 Apoteosis wrote: Leenock has beaten so many good Terrans in his prime that I lost the count (Taeja is like his personal punching ball).
On the other hand, TvZ is Maru's worst matchup.
In the IEM Taipei qualifier Maru defeated Rogue, DeParture, HyuN and Life, at IEM Taipei he defeated, TRUE, Hydra and Soulkey, only losing to Life, in SSL he defeated Dark. If TvZ is his worst MU I don't want to see his best.
On February 12 2015 07:50 Apoteosis wrote: Leenock has beaten so many good Terrans in his prime that I lost the count (Taeja is like his personal punching ball).
On the other hand, TvZ is Maru's worst matchup.
In the IEM Taipei qualifier Maru defeated Rogue, DeParture, HyuN and Life, at IEM Taipei he defeated, TRUE, Hydra and Soulkey, only losing to Life, in SSL he defeated Dark. If TvZ is his worst MU I don't want to see his best.
On February 12 2015 07:50 Apoteosis wrote: Leenock has beaten so many good Terrans in his prime that I lost the count (Taeja is like his personal punching ball).
On the other hand, TvZ is Maru's worst matchup.
In the IEM Taipei qualifier Maru defeated Rogue, DeParture, HyuN and Life, at IEM Taipei he defeated, TRUE, Hydra and Soulkey, only losing to Life, in SSL he defeated Dark. If TvZ is his worst MU I don't want to see his best.
Also, Leenock in his prime lost to jjakji
Jjakji in his prime had godly TvZ, and with a manly style like biotank. Not like this Maru fellow who likes to spam widow mines and is very fond of hellbat timings.
And granted, Maru's run at IEM Taiwan was impressive, but against premiere-less opposition (Soulkey and Life the exceptions). Rogue hadn't done anything worthwhile besides being a ladder hero. DeParture is a joke. Hyun is in a huge slump. Hydra and TRUE are average Zergs, and Dark is in the same status as Rogue.
Finally, Leenock's style of TvZ is more alike with Life's style than Soulkey or Soo TvZ, for example.
On February 12 2015 07:50 Apoteosis wrote: Leenock has beaten so many good Terrans in his prime that I lost the count (Taeja is like his personal punching ball).
On the other hand, TvZ is Maru's worst matchup.
In the IEM Taipei qualifier Maru defeated Rogue, DeParture, HyuN and Life, at IEM Taipei he defeated, TRUE, Hydra and Soulkey, only losing to Life, in SSL he defeated Dark. If TvZ is his worst MU I don't want to see his best.
Also, Leenock in his prime lost to jjakji
Jjakji in his prime had godly TvZ, and with a manly style like biotank. Not like this Maru fellow who likes to spam widow mines and is very fond of hellbat timings.
And granted, Maru's run at IEM Taiwan was impressive, but against premiere-less opposition (Soulkey and Life the exceptions). Rogue hadn't done anything worthwhile besides being a ladder hero. DeParture is a joke. Hyun is in a huge slump. Hydra and TRUE are average Zergs, and Dark is in the same status as Rogue.
Finally, Leenock's style of TvZ is more alike with Life's style than Soulkey or Soo TvZ, for example.
An as per the other match, Stats > Rogue
HyuN took a macro game off of INnoVation not three months ago. What you call a slump I call "roach all-ins not so great these days."
On February 12 2015 07:50 Apoteosis wrote: Leenock has beaten so many good Terrans in his prime that I lost the count (Taeja is like his personal punching ball).
On the other hand, TvZ is Maru's worst matchup.
In the IEM Taipei qualifier Maru defeated Rogue, DeParture, HyuN and Life, at IEM Taipei he defeated, TRUE, Hydra and Soulkey, only losing to Life, in SSL he defeated Dark. If TvZ is his worst MU I don't want to see his best.
Also, Leenock in his prime lost to jjakji
Jjakji in his prime had godly TvZ, and with a manly style like biotank. Not like this Maru fellow who likes to spam widow mines and is very fond of hellbat timings.
And granted, Maru's run at IEM Taiwan was impressive, but against premiere-less opposition (Soulkey and Life the exceptions). Rogue hadn't done anything worthwhile besides being a ladder hero. DeParture is a joke. Hyun is in a huge slump. Hydra and TRUE are average Zergs, and Dark is in the same status as Rogue.
Finally, Leenock's style of TvZ is more alike with Life's style than Soulkey or Soo TvZ, for example.
A manly style, but one that's not that great in HotS.
Maru was 3-1 up against Life during the IEM finals, he got there handily and could for all intents and purposes won the whole thing 4-1. Why you're trying to turn this into an argument to support Leenock is a bit weird.
On February 12 2015 09:03 Orcasgt24 wrote: Leenock has this uncanny ability to destroy the best TvZers regardless of his current form(any remember the invincible Innovation?)
Leenock 3-1
I think you've confused him with DRG.
Though Leenock is historically an excellent ZvT player
I'm hoping to see a super aggressive match between Leenock vs. Maru, but I think Leenock will be able to edge Maru out 3-2. As long as Leenock doesn't miscalculate his opponents like he has and goes super greedy when Maru 2-rax's.
As for Stats vs. Rogue: Rogue is pretty good in the ZvP matchup, from what I've seen in the SPL. Stat's ZvP seems pretty solid as well. Stats 3, Rogue 2.
EPT
Life and 
Dream and 
Dear and 
