EPTSPOTV Starleague 2015 Season 2
S2SL Challenger League Day 3
Zest vs Bbyong
Losira vs Hyun
Classic vs Creator
Brackets andLeenock gs on Liquipedia
Starcraft II Starleague
Champions Aplenty
by Destructicon and munch
Zest vs Bbyong
It feels weird saying that
Zest has under-performed in 2015. And yet it has been 6 months since Zest was last in an individual league in Korea, by his standards definitely a disappointment. His aura of invincibility began to fade after his Blizzcon loss to 
Life, followed by an embarrassing loss to 
MarineKing in the Hot6ix cup. It has been downhill from there: in Proleague he sports an average 9-9 record and he has failed to qualify for any of the individual leagues in Korea so far. The one thing that has redeemed Zest's year so far was a win at IEM Katowice where he had to defeat representatives of all races to lift his trophy. However even at Katowice Zest was close to defeat more than once, at the hands of both Hydra or INnoVation. Still, at the time of the S2SL qualifiers his Proleague results were enough for him to get a seed, so here he is now. If Zest wants to advance be in the discussion for best protoss of the year again, if he wants to have a shot at Blizzcon again, he can't afford to fail here. He does have the advantage of more experience in BO5 formats compared to his adversary and he did recently defeat this foe. If Zest could prepare as he did at Katowice, and not get blindsided by BByong's weird builds, then this series could be his.Bbyong, on the other hand, seems to have hit his stride. He holds a more dependable 7-6 record in Proleague and he has done great in online qualifiers and tournaments. His qualifier runs eventually took him to Katowice where he made a semi-final appearance for the first time in his career, though he was stopped by the eventual champion. Undaunted Bbyong continued to do well in qualifiers, making it through both the GSL and S2SL. While he did lose to Zest at Katowice, Bbyong has several things going for him here. First, Zest's PvT is statistically his worst match up, and apart from his IEM run it has shown. Also Bbyong seems to be riding a new found wave of TvP strength with his recent killing spree including names such as sOs, MC, herO and Dear. If Bbyong takes the time to study his losses at Katowice he is more then capable of devising solutions to help him get to Code S.Ultimately this comes down to the knife's edge and I think Bbyong just has the better momentum right now and the advantage of games by which to study Zest.
Zest 2-3 BbyongLosira vs HyuN
Losira's results lately have fluctuated more than a seismograph during a 9.0 earthquake. He participates in every online cup and qualifier you could imagine, he has even won one Olimoleague, but usually bombs out in the first couple of rounds. He also wasn't very successful in the GSL or S2SL. The one place where he shows stability is actually Proleague, where he holds a ace-level 9-4 record. Thanks to his record in the the most prestigious team league in Korea he has been granted a seed into S2SL. Admittedly, it is hard to pinpoint where his ZvZ is as he has defeated players like TRUE, Solar, Curious, Armani and ByuL, but also lost to many of these in other qualifiers or cups.HyuN's return to Korea has hurt and in many ways his 2015 has looked similar to Losira. He participates in as many qualifiers and online cups as he can, but unlike Losira HyuN seems to be capable of making deeper runs, and his overall results look better then Losira's. He nearly qualified for IEM Taipei, being narrowly denied by Life but turned it around to do very well in the Kung Fu Cup 2015 Season 1. After also making it deep in the previous qualifiers and being denied HyuN has broken through the qualifiers for a Korean individual league for the first time in 2 years.This is very hard to call. Both HyuN and Losira have won and lost to similar caliber players lately, both are previous GSL finalists that lost to a ZvZ and this is a ZvZ. HyuN's win rate in the match-up is 67% to Losira's 61%, however that is most likely inflated due to him farming foreigners in 2014. HyuN also looks better in qualifiers and online cups, but he has also been playing in these for ages and has gotten used to the chaos. Ultimately I'm going to give this to Losira due to his Proleague results, they tell me that he is much better in a prepared format.
Losira 3-2
HyuNClassic vs Creator
It’s strange that
Classic has arguably received fewer plaudits after his GSL win almost a year ago than he did before. I guess that’s what you get if you bomb out in last place in the very first group of the following season. Classic has again been flying under the radar in 2015—failure to qualify for the first season of the GSL, combined with his quick exit in the S2SL at the hands of Life and Stats, has meant that his opportunities have been limited so far. However, as with last year, he’s shown himself to be a useful sniper for SKT in Proleague, and his past two appearances have brought wins over YongHwa and Stats—two players who are no slouches in the mirror matchup.Of all the races, Protoss seems the one blessed with the most ephemeral talents. Save for MC, many of the race’s stars have burned bright and fast—Seed, Squirtle, and at the head of the queue,
Creator. The end of Wings of Liberty saw him in prime position to take his place as the leader of his race, but HotS brought about an abrupt end to his reign. While he may no longer be championship calibre, the departure of MarineKing to MVP has left Creator as the de facto leader of PRIME, and it’s in the teamleagues that his best performances have come in recent times. His one man crusade to lift PRIME off the bottom of the table in Round 1 of Proleague 2014 was as impressive as it was futile, and his recent double victory over Zest showed that a little of the old magic remains.Stylistically, this is a classic case of aggression matched against passivity. Classic, with his proxy gates and cheesy play in PvP, is every bit as determined to be on the front foot as Creator is to be on the back. The series will ultimately come down to Creator’s greed and ability to defend; however, I believe that Classic simply has too wide an array of timings and all-ins for Creator to cope.
Classic 3 – 1
Creator
