EPTA Game of Chance
by The_Templar and Soularion
sOs, The Hand of Discord
In uncharted waters, those able to take advantage of the unknown are the most successful. With no one ever needing to consider whatever new reality there now is, the creative thrive. Those capable of playing in whatever way suits them best aren’t bothered too much by the shifting of the metagame. With a recent lack of world-altering balance changes or structure, energetic players like
sOs have found themselves stagnating in the still Starcraft waters. Jin Air’s top Protoss started 2014 in stride with an IEM WC victory (and a GSL playoffs finish), he's slowly lost his creative edge. While missing out on the GSL quarterfinals over multiple seasons, sOs strung together a poor set of runs at IEM Toronto, Red Bull Washington, and the first KeSPA cup, losing to inferior players like First and Trap. More importantly, innovations that sOs brought to the table—ideas that few others would even consider—faded away from existence. His KeSPA cup run indicated that his spark of madness wasn’t completely lost, but he could no longer win solely with his usual surprise and creativity.While players like MC and Has waited for an opportunity to shine or attempted something even more ridiculous than their previous antics, sOs slowly adjusted to rely more on strategic flexibility and less on gimmicks. His few tournament runs near the end of the year indicated that his ploy was successful. After winning the Hot6iX cup by blindsiding MarineKing, sOs qualified for the GSL this season and blended in with his surroundings. While his Proleague games didn’t anticipate it, sOs played far more risk-averse than his history predicted. His play was far from standard, but cheese was reserved for the appropriate situations and he played out series whenever he was plainly superior in mechanics. Strangely, his weakness this GSL has been reflections of his old reckless self. Bbyong and Curious exposed this vulnerability with creative counter-tactics whenever sOs actually attempted something unusual.
sOs’s Ro8 opponent was MyuNgSiK but similarly to his games against Heart and MMA, the Jin Air Protoss waited for his opponent to play worse instead of seizing the initiative. ByuL is a much different opponent and he may coerce sOs into uncomfortable scenarios. Even so, sOs is familiar with gambling, and may reintegrate elements of his crazier past when times get tough.
ByuL, The Hand of Fate
It happened so long ago that it's hard to remember, but
ByuL was once part of a foreign team. Before he ever reached Code A, ByuL was on Fnatic, and the most defining moment of this era for him came after his team upset New Star HoSeo during the last GSTL of 2012. Not because of his 2-kill—which saw the rare Tassadar macro game—but because of his interview afterwards. In it, he described the problems he faced as bad luck. Not being able to transition from online success into offline success is a common story but for ByuL, luck goes a lot further than just a one-time brush.As his answer to the problem all zergs face right now—trying to combat the swarm host nerf—ByuL has chosen a playstyle that verges on gambling. His standard play remains solid but it's not his current claim to fame. Rather, ByuL best succeeds best at picking apart his opponents by utilizing a combination of various tricky builds (the infamous ByuL build, proxy spire, fast mutas, etc.) and early aggression. It seems that ByuL has given up trying to play the seemingly impossible ZvP macro game, and has instead worked on refining his gimmicks. Trying to figure out exactly what he can do to tear a protoss apart. Much like sOs, the tough part about beating ByuL isn't knowing that he's gonna cheese you—it's figuring out which trick he's pulling out of the bag.
Even in his infamously dominant head-to-head record against Maru, ByuL rarely wins by demolishing him in a macro game. Rather, ByuL abuses the prodigy's greed and picks him apart, just like any other opponent. This is hiss greatest strength, his lack of reliance on the macro game. ByuL understands there is no honor in war, only victory and defeat, and punishes greedy players to no end. It's almost as if he's the ultimate balance—the embodiment of Libra. If you decide to play greedy, sometimes you die to ByuL. It's only fair.
Yet, by going up against a player like sOs, who is incredibly flexible and possesses a seemingly endless repertoire of strategies, the CJ Entus zerg faces an interesting dilemma. Can he overcome the very embodiment of coinflips, or will he just be another victim of the Trickster's tactics? If ByuL goes for his regular tactics, this series is likely to devolve into unadulterated chaos. It might result in a great, fun series or a repetition of sOs' last time in the GSL Ro4 (where he almost reverse-killed his teammate, Soulkey) is hard to predict, but in an exciting way. However, ByuL is favored in the actual macro game. Over the past year, ByuL has displayed straight up better mechanics than sOs and his grasp of long games and the decision-making involved seems superior, which leaves him with an interesting choice. Will he bet his life on the greed-punishing style that got him this far, or will he risk being tricked? Only time, and/or a couple of thumb flicks, will tell.
Prediction:
With these two players, anything is possible. sOs continues to baffle as much as he amazes, and ByuL has had a tendency to play this matchup with an increasing disdain for the standard. On the one hand, this could become a transcendent series full of new strategies and uncertain endings. On the other hand, this could be a dud surpassing sOs vs MarineKing. So, in decreasing order of likelihood:
ByuL 4-3 sOs
ByuL 2-4 sOs
ByuL 1-4 sOs
ByuL 4-0 sOs
ByuL 3-4 sOs
ByuL 0-4 sOs
ByuL 4-2 sOs
ByuL 4-1 sOs
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