EPTSBENU SC2 Starleague 2015 Season 2
S2SL Main Event
Group C
Life vs soO
ByuL vs Trap
Brackets andLeenock gs on Liquipedia
Starcraft II Starleague
Lost Time
by The_Templar
Every player has a point during his career in which he clearly could have done better, and where it’s apparent that his performance was insufficient compared to what he hoped for. This group is unique in that none of the four competitors haven’t really underperformed recently, but they all have either unfulfilled potential or expectations. This group gives each of these players a shot to show how capable they really are, and for some to make up for lost time.
We’ve talked a lot about how
Life is one of the greats, and how he outdid and outlived all of his adversaries. He adapted to the entire world, created his own style of play, and twice occupied a dominating position that most champions dream of. He clinched the Blizzcon trophy, and his red-hot play allowed him to burn his way to two semifinals and a championship in Korea. In seven tournaments, he has reached the top 4 in six of them while surrounded by top-tier opponents. Life has dealt himself the best hand possible, but somewhere along the way he started to lack an aura of near-invincibility crucial for the number of tournaments he has recently participated in.Both of Life’s Korean league runs were littered with weakness as he dropped multiple sets and barely clutched out victory in most of his important series.
Dream stole the spotlight in the last S2SL, INnoVation stopped Life’s followup to IEM Taipei, and Dark ended any dreams of controlling Korea. While these minor failures aren’t particularly disappointing, and were compensated for by an equal number of victories, expectations for Life in the last months have been greater than for any other player, and any less than a top four placement here can be seen as a letdown.soO, on the other hand, is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Unlike Life, who actually dominated more than a fair number of tournaments, soO always fell short. Every single GSL in 2014 featured soO entering as the previous season’s runner-up and climbing his way to a repeat performance. Not only did four straight finals show off his consistency, but so did his play, as he managed to mix together solid macro play together with a variety of build orders including cheese. Even though he didn’t win a single season, soO's position as the number one Zerg remained barely contested until Life returned to top form near the end of the year and he cracked.After pitiful finishes at the WCS Global finals and the Hot6iX cup, soO was relegated to a second-tier position on SKT’s Proleague lineup as he failed to qualify for either of last season’s Starleagues. There, he struggled, and while he now holds an 8-4 record, the average quality of his opponents is far below what he competed against in the GSL. However, he is slowly making a partial return to form. soO managed to qualify for both Starleagues this season. Yet, despite crushing his way through the prerequisite qualifiers and following BO5s, he faltered in GSL, losing to both
Trap and FanTaSy. It has been nearly half a year since soO toppled from his eternal second place throne, and failing to advance will extend that period of time by several months.Trap was on the rise but completely invisible near the end of 2013, as his improvements in Korea were overshadowed by hot players at the time like Dear and Soulkey. After slowly climbing his way up to the quarterfinals of WCS Korea Premier Season 3, he promptly lost horribly to a Dear that was starting an unstoppable run to Blizzcon, but managed to defeat PartinG and jjakji to earn a spot in the Global Finals. There, he made his way to the semifinals in relative comfort, but took a second 3-0 beating from Soulkey and lost out on any shot at long-term recognition from that season. Still, he had proven that he had some ability, and would have a chance at proving his worth next year.Instead, he became a perpetual flash in the pan, despite clearly having a reasonable measure of skill. Although Trap remained in Code S for 2014, he barely even managed to reach the RO16 one time. He showed up at MLG Anaheim, still nearly invisible, eight months after his performance, and despite no expectations he showed what he was capable of by fighting his way through a juggernaut of fan favorites in the lower bracket to take first. It was exactly what a sound player like Trap needed to boost himself into a position as one of the top players, but he made nothing out of it. After accepting his invitation to Red Bull Washington and finishing in the middle, he disappeared until the IEM World Championships, where he again inconspicuously took second place. If he sticks around long enough, he could surprise with another strong finish, but it’s entirely possible that his Starleague performance will closely follow his GSL form last year.
Few are likely to benefit from double Starleagues this season more than
ByuL. Although he’s been around since 2012 and wavering between playoff contention and terrible for nearly as long, recent form indicates that this is the opportune time for him to have as many chances as possible. His strong performance in the last round of Proleague, prompted by a convincing victory over the previously undefeated INnoVation and capped off by a 3-kill against Jin Air’s best, combined with a KeSPA Cup semifinals finish, paints a picture of a very potent competitor.However, ByuL is no stranger to this situation. In 2013, his switch to WCS America seemed to be paying dividends. His very first run had brought him to the finals, where only
Polt could stop him, and despite losing he made himself out to be a future contender in WCS. Instead, he dropped off and made few appearances outside of WCS and GSL, where he continued his previous pattern of mediocre finishes. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that ByuL, back in Korea and additionally playing regularly in Proleague, will fall as easily as he did before. With multiple shots at an individual run backed up by regular Proleague appearances, ByuL has a very good chance of making some impact this season.Overall Thoughts Predictions:
Trap enters the group with only Zerg opponents. This is fortunate for him, as his recent PvZ has included almost exclusively wins over reasonable Zerg players, such as Dark and Rogue, even though most of those wins occurred in qualifiers. ByuL is responsible for one of his few losses, but the game itself was well-played by both players. ByuL’s PvZ, on the other hand, isn’t in particularly great shape. Seven relatively poor games, four of them losses, against herO and MyuNgSiK in the KeSPA cup and his game against Trap are his only notable games lately. soO and Life, on the other hand, have a good opportunity to give Trap a run for his money. While soO crushed Super and Seed in the S2SL Challenge and Code A, showing that his raw skill is a level above theirs, Life has been drawing slightly better than evenly with the very best Protoss players recently.
This brings us to the ZvZs. In the context of Life losing in the KeSPA cup, it seems likely that a lot of ZvZs will involve at least one fast pool. This is bad news for ByuL, who is extremely capable in macro ZvZs but was the only person to lose to an all-in from TerrOr. Life, on the other hand, has been known to adapt based on his known weaknesses, so it’s fairly likely that he’ll arrive prepared for what Dark attempted. Additionally, his ZvZ outside of that one series has been good enough to reliably defeat mid-tier Zergs. Meanwhile, it’s much more difficult to figure out soO’s play in the matchup. Most of his matches of late are against far lesser Zergs than Life and ByuL, but soO has shown flashes of brilliance in ZvZ. This is an advantage in games that will likely come down to which player is more intelligent than the other in the early game.
Life < soO
ByuL < Trap
soO > Trap
Life > ByuL
Trap < Life
soO and Life to advance.
