Round 2: Fight!

Similar to last week’s opening match, the Telecom War Part 1 was focused on quick matches and weird builds all around, resulting in an overall quite even series that went the full distance. In the deciding moment the KT staff made the smarter choice than their SKT counterparts, winning the series outside of the game. Everything is different in all kill format, however.

KT vs SKT - Match 1 Recap

Stats < MyuNgSiK
Leenock > Dream
TY > Classic
Trust > Impact
Zest < Dark
Losira < INnoVation
Stats > INnoVation


The day began as well as expected for SK Telecom T1 at least: MyuNgSiK proved his excellent form in the Protoss mirror match-up and repeated his victory over Stats in Code S. He built up a strong army composition with phoenixes and disruptors mixed in, catching Stats off guard with a powerful 2-base timing.


MyuNgSiK routs Stats' army and claims another victory.

But then things went downhill quite fast. Dream attempted a hellion-cyclone build, which was designed to cripple the zerg early on and provide a platform for a transition into mech. Leenock smelled what was coming though—and punished his opponent. A zergling attack did considerable damage to Dream before he got off the ground, forcing him to abandon his original plans. Reacting to Leenock's 2-base spire, he built up whatever anti-air he could, but was soon hit with a mass of roach/ling. Wave after wave Leenock sent into the meat grinder, until the terran players’ defences were finally overrun.


The Leenocktopus strikes fast and precise: This speedling attack proved critical.

TY, after having probably studied Classic’s series against GuMiho from GSL, decided he should take the initiative on Dusk Towers. He proxied his production on his opponents’ side of the map, opening with a successful widow mine-drop despite an early scout from Classic. The follow-up push consisted of a liberator, a cyclone and a group of marines with which TY slowly pushed his way into the Protoss base. Sniping an Artosis-pylon in Classic’s production sealed the deal.


TY has had enough of Protoss cheese and gave Classic a taste of his own medicine.

The unpredictable match between Trust and Impact unfortunately ended equally quickly and one-sided: The KT player started out with simple adept pressure, that already managed to do more damage than it should have, and followed that up with a warp prism and—you guessed it—more adepts. But first he used the warp prism to hide a Dark Shrine near his own natural, which should prove to be the final nail in Impacts coffin. After losing more and more workers and zerglings to the adepts, he just gg’ed out when three DTs hit his main base and killed the spore there.


Impact realizes his hopeless sitation as DTs enter the battle. Moments later the gg fell.

On the brink of defeat for T1, Dark and Zest entered the stage. The Protoss player tried to cripple the Zerg with a sentry-adept-immortal push while taking a third base, but the plan backfired: While Zest was on the offensive, a pack of speedlings ravaged his own main base, killing workers and denying mining time. But even worse was the fact that Zest’s multitasking kind of left him at this point. As he dealt with the zerglings at home, his attacking army got devastated by Dark’s corrosive bile shots, allowing the Zerg to hold on and counter attack with an overwhelming swarm of units. Zest lost his third and a few minutes later the game, as a relentless mass of Zerg units branded against his gates.


Dark counter attacks Zest in full force and breaks through the forcefields.

Still, KT had another opportunity to close the match out. Unfortunately for them, Losira could not deal with SKT’s hellion-cyclone obsession as well as Leenock. INnoVation used the same build as Dream, but this time its full effectiveness was showcased: A force of upgraded cyclones and hellions roamed the map and sniped the third hatchery, while at home economy and tank production were up and running. Losira had an interesting approach to breaking it by trying to counter attack with ling-baneling-queen carpet bombings, but INnoVation’s defences were already in place, his units entrenched and the attacks repelled. Left with nothing but a last ditch second attempt, Losira quickly had to surrender.


Losira valiantly tries to turn the tide, but INnoVation's entrenched forces hold strong.

Fate did not allow SKT a victory, though. Presumably expecting Dark, KT sent out Stats on New Gettysburg. On the other side however, it was decided to field the victorious INnoVation—perhaps in anticipation of a TvT against TY. The following ace match clearly showed why we saw INnoVation dodge other Protoss players really hard over the course of the season: Even though he had a good build in mind—another cyclone opener with widow mine follow-up—he chose to send his units out on the map for some reason, instead of keeping them at home. With his main base exposed, Stats’ oracle found twelve SCV kills and was still able to escape. After sustaining that much early damage, Innovation attempted to surprise Stats with a mech composition, but a mass adept attack, which hit three places at once and killed the third base, essentially finished the game. One last ditch effort by Innovation was not enough to change his misfortune, and KT took home the first match.


INnoVation's last charge is repelled, KT triumph.

An anticlimactic ending to a rather odd edition of the Telecom War. With this, KT are ahead 1-0 in the Bo3 against their greatest rivals. If they win the All Kill match on Monday, they’ll face their nemeses of Jin Air Green Wings in the Grand Final.


Losira's face after being defeated by cyclone-hellion... it also represents how many fans on both sides felt about the whole series.

Match 2 Preview

Trust <Frozen Temple> INnoVation
<Overgrowth>
<Dusk Towers>
<New Gettysburg>
<King Sejong Station>
<Frost>
<Frozen Temple>

KT change things up for the first time in this entire season by not sending Stats out as the vanguard. Instead, Trust is given the responsibility to bear the brunt of SK Telecom T1’s lineup. T1 have decided to stick with what they know and field INnoVation in the first rank of battle. Is any of the coaches already the great winner of this exchange?

Hard to say, as on paper INnoVation surely must be given the position as favorite. But after what happened against Stats in Sunday’s ace match, which was essentially decided by a single oracle, we have to question INnoVation’s abilities against Protoss once more. Trust, who scored an easy victory over Impact in Match 1, will certainly be quite confident despite facing a huge name like the Machine. If the cyclone mania, which somehow befell the SKT Terrans, continues, then all it takes to upset them is an aggressive or cheesy build, that denies them the initiative. If they can’t do damage and instead take some, the whole transition into mech—and INnoVation tried exactly that against Stats—is pretty much impossible to pull off.

Maybe Innovation will change it up with a more of a standard approach, but he never was the most flexible of players. Whenever he finds a build he’s comfortable with, he’ll play it again and again. Of course we haven’t really seen how his style is supposed to work out against Protoss when everything goes well—the mistake of leaving his base defenseless robbed us of that experience. Trust probably knows that his odds get worse the more time goes by and the more INnoVation can fire up his macro, so I wouldn’t expect a standard game here. There are so many ways he could push the Terran off balance, and INnoVation is notorious for falling to cheesy plays.




Key Players

Stats has been the most successful and important player for KT in their all kill matches this season. He achieved ten wins over the course of all three round playoffs and even managed to All Kill SK Telecom T1 in Round 2—an experience so traumatic to them, they didn’t make it into the next playoffs. After taking the ace win on Sunday, he’ll be the man they turn to, should things go sour.

TY hasn’t played a huge role in any of KTs playoff runs—only taking a meaningless map in their 1-4 defeat to Jin Air in the Round 3 finals—, but after advancing in Code S and dominating Classic on Sunday it should be clear that he’ll be a powerful option for KT in any match-up: He can challenge INnoVation in TvT, Classic in TvP and Dark in TvZ. He's KT's Swiss Army Knife, an option against everything.

Supporting Cast

Zest normally would be a key player, but his slump seems to be a real and serious issue for him, as shown in his match against Dark. We’re used to at times non-optimal macro by Zest, but on a normal day his excellent understanding of the game makes up for that tenfold. Not on Sunday though… on Sunday Zest fell apart in front of everyone, and it’s unclear when he’ll recover. Knowing the KT staff they’ll use him anyway, but he’s certainly not the powerhouse option he would otherwise be.

The Zerg duo of Leenock and Losira has fought valiantly on Sunday, with Leenock even taking an important win. If we see one of the two play on Monday, it’ll probably be Leenock, who’s already been fielded several times in KT's all kill matches and even finished off a series this season. The game against Dream showcased that he still possesses his typical killer instinct and is willing to exploit any hole he finds.

Jjakji wasn’t used on Sunday and most likely won’t see any more action at all this season. Unfortunately, the Terran doesn’t seem to perform well enough in their house to be considered for a spot in the playoff roster, so seeing him now in the all kill format would be a huge surprise.




Key Players

Dark smacked down Zest in solid fashion and is still going strong in SSL; he can challenge any of KTs players at this point… and he might very well have to. It’s probable that the Zerg will be the last player SKT send into the field, either to clean up KTs remains, or to pull SKT out of a disaster. Anyway, more Dark action ahead!

Classic, despite being shut down hard by TY, is still one of SKTs most solid assets. He may have fallen in GSL, but he’s alive and well in SSL—where he beat Stats—and has shown his value in the All Kill match against Afreeca, where he put three points on his teams’ scoreboard. He’s capable of great things in every match-up and will be a core player on Monday.

Supporting Cast

MyuNgSiK is on a roll and might be able to fill the hole soO’s slump has left in SKTs line-up. The Protoss trickster has shown his new consistency by defeating Stats one more time in Match 1 and could be prepared for another snipe against his former teammate. He’s equally dangerous in the other match-ups though—even TY will need to tread carefully when facing MyuNgSiK, who sent Maru on to the course of elimination in GSL. The MyuNgSiK show might continue in all its glory on Monday.

Dream and soO are the other options besides MyuNgSiK to fill the fourth spot. The Zerg seems to trail behind in practice and probably doesn’t enjoy the trust of the coaches at the moment, otherwise they wouldn’t have fielded Impact over him on Sunday. Seeing them change their opinion the day after would be quite surprising. Dream on the other hand is certainly a solid option. He’s not at his most powerful at the moment and did make a critical mistake against Leenock on Sunday, but so has INnoVation against Stats. And when the Machine can be forgiven, so can Dream.

SKT's other players, Impact and Zoun, most likely won’t see the field of battle on Monday. Impact had earned himself a chance and failed to prove the trust put in him, while Zoun already has had his successful moment against Afreeca.


Predictions

Sunday was close, on Monday anything can happen. Several players on both teams are capable of scoring multiple kills or even achieving an all kill, but with some players being in vulnerable shape in certain match-ups right now—such as INnoVation in TvP or Stats in PvP—the coaches will have an even more critical role than on a normal day. The timing of certain picks might prove decisive. But in the end it’s the players who have to deliver.

KT 3 - 4 SKT because we flipped a coin.