The Million Man's Maddening Miracle

by Destructicon

Jin Air led the charge against KT Rolster with a surprise in Match 1, but none of us could have predicted what was to come on the second day of the playoffs. Indeed, after the surprise 4-1 from Jin Air, KT looked a little lost. When it was announced that a rematch between Flash and Trap on Echo would be starting things off, things looked grim for KT. Instead we got one of the most exciting days of Proleague in recent memory.

Flash vs Trap kicked things off in rather standard fashion. Flash was the one that chose to deviate from the norm by going for a marine runby at Trap's natural expansion. After scoring several probe kills Flash decided to solidify his lead with a follow-up 3rd CC while adding more bio. Trap responded with pressure to get some damage done sent his army across the map, but it was ill fated as his troops got caught without access to a recall and were destroyed. The Jin Air Protoss quickly tapped out.

Undaunted, Jin Air sent out Rogue on Iron Fortress in what was obviously a snipe pick. Rogue's ZvT has been a strong suit for a long time, and Flash has not displayed the same strengths in the match-up that the Sexy Boy Zerg has. But Flash managed to turn the tables on Rogue. By playing safe and going for a massive, slow-reaching mech march across the map. Flash managed to hit just in Rogue's moment of weakness. Vipers were out, but out of position, and Flash's artillery shelled Rogue's production and cleaned up all scattered reinforcements to collect his second kill.


The Jin Air bench's collective facial expression was likely similar to this

Now on the back foot, Jin Air decided to put their faith in Maru's TvT skills. Unfortunately, Maru's pure bio composition wasn't able to land the critical blow. Although a few moments seemed to tilt the game in Maru's favor, particularly a set of drops that very nearly pulled Flash apart, he could not deal the damage he needed against Flash's mech on Coda. Flash simply defended to the best of his ability and marched across the map once he felt comfortable. Without any tanks or easily defended positions to anchor him, Maru could not hold. Flash was now up 3-0.


Well, shit

Down to their last life Jin Air had no choice but to send out the Million Dollar man himself. And then things got a little... crazy. Known for his perennial defiance in the face of expectation and an uncanny ability to truly turn it on when things are dire, sOs was laughing in his booth during the wait before the series' fourth game. Up against a Flash single-handedly dismantling his team, sOs seemed no more concerned than we imagine he is when developing new ways to vex players on the ladder.


Guys, we've already done this.

On Terraform, sOs led off with light gateway pressure into a early gold expansion to counter Flash's CC first. While not dealing huge damage, sOs managed to fluster Flash enough that the possibility of a huge gateway all-in off the gold-boosted economy fell to his wayside. Flash upon, realizing his mistake, built bunkers. Alas, it was too late.


Seriously, what was he thinking?


Unfazed and still up two games, KT decided to throw another TvP against sOs on Cactus Valley. TY went for his own spin on the KT Terran greed, with a rax expand into 3 CC coupled with widow mine drops. sOs got a quick blink and, despite taking casualties at home, offered TY ample payback by forcibly evicting him from the natural and delaying his expansion for a good few minutes. Behind all the delays sOs got his own 3rd, Colossi and even DT tech to further delay TY's economic growth. The KT Terran still had one shot at stabilizing in the form of his infantry, but a narrowly failed snipe on sOs' 3rd saw the Jin Air Protoss gain an increasingly insurmountable lead, from which he would later win the game.

With things getting serious, KT sent out their finest. Zest, in a rematch on Vaani Research Station, should have no trouble dealing with the player he has outmatched so many times in the past. This time the Mad Scientist opted for blink play, but Zest's diligent scouting and deductive reasoning denied sOs from inflicting damage. This prompted Zest to expand and solidify his lead. sOs was not to be outdone, and the full extent of his genius became apparent only then. He tailed Zest in expansion and colossus timing and appeared at a loss for solutions. Then came a warp prism. Armed with a surprise colossus, across the map while he sent his army on the other side. sOs then feigned aggression on Zest's 3rd while doing a colossus drop and offensive warp-in at Zest's natural. Ravaging the base and destroying a nexus, sOs set Zest back immeasurably. Further, in all the confusion sOs managed to snipe a colossus and escape nearly unscathed with his prism. Off balance, Zest decided to retaliate, but upon moving out sOs flanked his army and caught a lone colossus. This latest snipe, coupled with the continuous prism harass, sent Zest packing. From there sOs macroed comfortably, got a 4th and, when he maxed, threw everything he had against Zest - and broke him before the KT Protoss could get his emergency tempests.


Hey guys, want to hear a joke? Zest!

The tables had turned, and KT were now in a very awkward spot. Having to send Stats out - as they couldn't risk a ZvP on Echo - they had been forced into a position where their aces were already down for the count in the key match. Things actually started off well for the KT Protoss as he looked poised to hit a good blink timing before sOs could stabilize, even sniping the mothership core before the first immortal came out. However, sOs snuck a very sOs-esque pylon into Stats' main and warped in a mere 2 zealots, forcing Stats to warp at home at scale down his planned offensive. With Stats' attention distracted and the aforementioned's economy taking hits, sOs turned the tables. He attacked Stats' stalkers, routing him on that front and, while the KT toss was still reeling, warped in 2 more zealots to devastate the mineral line. From there, sOs took such a commanding lead that he was able to comfortably macro on 3 bases and then launch a devastating attack to finish off Stats, KT and send Jin Air into the semi-finals!

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Not only did sOs win the match for his team, he completed a monumental achievement, reverse all-killing one of the best teams in all of Proleague. KT Rolster, the very team that won last season's championship. In its three-year tenure in Starcraft II, Proleague had yet to see a full 4-game reverse sweep. We've witnessed plenty of all-kills across the spectrum, but the closest we got to a full reverse was Maru defeating KT 4-2 in the Round 3 playoffs of 2015. And while round playoffs are nice, important of themselves, it doesn't compare to the pressure and stress of the grand playoffs - where everything is on the line and a loss risks elimination. In that context, sOs' victory is even more impressive. With his entire team down and out, he stood cool against the best that KT had to offer, and he managed to both outsmart and outmaneuver them time, and time again. What's more, he did it in typical sOs fashion, with shameless gold base shenanigans, ruthless all-ins and cute plays. Flash should have seen it coming, and Stats should have been wise enough to expect a backstab. But no player on KT, despite their history with sOs, was prepared, and in the end it hurt them. While it's tempting to compare today's feat to the only other similar feat we've had in SC2's history, Symbol's 5-game reverse sweep of Incredible Miracle, it's hard to compare the two given different format (BO9 vs BO7) and eras. The thing is, the two don't need comparing. Given the difficulty of the competition, the setting and way in which he won, it is a feat of greatness to itself.

sOs' reverse all-kill is memorable enough to stand on its own as one of the most magnificent and beautiful accomplishments in professional SC2. And CJ Entus will need to be ready when sOs comes for them.

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