EPT
GuMiho and 
soO, against each other. Korean finals have had a tendency of being hit or miss, with players sometimes being completely read and crushed by their opponents. However, this one turned out to be everything we deserve in a finals, with both long epic games as well as short nail-biters that went down to only few units. Game 1 – Ascension to Aiur
GuMiho and soO decided to get the ball rolling with a relatively normal early game, expanding and teching. GuMiho did try to throw soO a curve-ball in the form of cloaked banshee and early hellion presence on the map. But soO read GuMiho’s plans and prepared well, taking nearly no damage and setting up for a extremely early hive. Despite being up in supply and tech for a brief period of time, soO failed to capitalize on these advantages, not harassing and not getting enough vipers for a decisive midgame timing. This gave GuMiho enough room to expand and tech up to units higher in his arsenal, ravens and battlecruisers. soO meanwhile went for a large number of brood lords and corruptors. The two eventually fought head on, trading off their ground forces in favor of more air units. GuMiho slowly raided soO’s outlying bases with a warping squad of battlecruisers, but soO managed to counter by picking off all of the Ravens and vikings. Down to his last brood lords and corruptors and an exhausted economy, soO went for one last push to try and break GuMiho’s mining bases, but just barely lost the decisive engagement and was forced to tap out.
Game 2 – Frost
GuMiho this time decided to bring out something special in the form of a unique version of 3-rax Reaper. GuMiho didn't let off after the initial reaper push, however, but added more and more and even brought his first two medivacs with them to give them more sustainability. This forced a lot of units from soO consistently, while a liberator snuck into his main base and killed a good number of drones when soO could ill afford it. With a lot of damage done to both economy and soO's army, GuMiho seemed content to posture outside his opponent's base with an increasingly frightening army, waiting for his upgrades to kick in. soO managed to hang on for several minutes, but when he was forced to move up to hive to keep up with GuMiho's army and upgrades, it opened up a timing window for the Terran that could not be defended. GuMiho stormed into soO's third base and mowed down his entire army, securing a 2-0 advantage.
Game 3 – Odyssey
soO turned the tables on Odyssey and tried his own cheese in the form of a proxy hatchery at GuMiho's third base, followed by a ravager push. The surprise attack was able to force a cancel of the natural, giving soO time to spread creep and pin GuMiho back on one base. soO started droning and even began mining at GuMiho’s third. GuMiho was eventually able to amass a force large enough to break out and caught soO’s retreating drones, reducing the zerg’s advantage a bit. Still on a timer, though, GuMiho pushed out across the map to hit before soO could cash in on the drones he had pumped out, but the zerg amassed enough roaches in time to crush the push while his spire tech was already on the way. The moment GuMiho's banshee got the first glance of soO's mutalisks, GuMiho immediately conceded.
Game 4 – Proxima Station
No crazy shenanigans were had in the opening stages of game four. GuMiho chose to set the tempo in the mid-game, siegeing soO's forward natural with two tanks. soO however was on top of his game and managed to snipe one of the initial first medivacs, greatly reducing the power of GuMiho's harassment. soO later managed to pin GuMiho’s attack, destroying 2 of the pushing tanks and a medivac. Despite this setback GuMiho was already advancing to the next part of his plan in the form of double armory mech. Having maxed out much earlier than his opponent, soO went for a huge bust on GuMiho’s position, destroying all the defending hellbats and wiping out a large number of tanks before being pushed back. However GuMiho was battering down soO’s 4th base at the same time with a thor drop. Having destroyed soO’s base and retreated successfully GuMiho geared up for a massive counter-push as soO was teching to vipers. GuMiho’s attack turned out to be perfectly timed, hitting just as the vipers hatched, leaving soO with only one blinding cloud to work with. Despite his best efforts, soO was not able to hold his crucial gold base and was forced to tap out.
Game 5 – Whirlwind
GuMiho once more attempted to mix it up in the mid-game, this time going for a double factory build into hellion cyclone. soO though was on top of his scouting and spotted both factories in time to prepare. GuMiho’s attempts to soften up soO with hellion harass proved ineffective with the Zerg driving back each and every attack with minimal losses. When the hellbat/cyclone attack hit, soO comfortably had enough units to hold. Wasting no time, soO counter-attacked across the map, giving GuMiho an opening to sneak some hellions around and deal real economic damage. Yet soO was able to clean up the attack while GuMiho was powerless to stop his own third base from having to lift back to safety. soO used his considerable army advantage to bust through GuMiho’s natural shortly after and, despite losing his army, he inflicted crippling economic damage. soO then geared up for another attack, all the while expanding his economy and getting better upgrades than GuMiho. Despite repelling the second wave, GuMiho eventually ran out of steam and was forced to GG as the third blow from soO came crashing into his base.
Game 6 – Newkirk Precinct
With his tournament life on the line, soO decided to attempt a one base ravager bust. Despite getting off to a flying start, killing the SCV bulding the natural command center and forcing the first reaper to head back home, GuMiho would not be undone. The Terran built an emergency bunker on the high ground and started a cyclone. When soO’s ravagers finally arrived, they couldn't do the game ending damage soO had hoped for. Unable to continue his all-in, soO started droning and expanded. GuMiho in the meanwhile began teching towards his own aggressive options. soO managed to deny GuMiho’s natural once again, but had to commit too many forces to the front lines, leaving his own bases vulnerable to counterattacks. GuMiho found kills on several drones and both queens. soO made a very intelligent call to get two blind spore crawlers, sensing the threat of banshees. GuMiho, however, was one step ahead, dropping both cyclones into soO’s main, sniping off the spore and leaving the zerg open to harassment. He simultaneously hit the natural with hellions, torching several more drones. soO desperately tried to keep himself in the game by going for another small counter-attack but it was all too late. With his forces being decimated on all fronts, soO finally conceded his sixth GSL Grand Finals.
GuMiho ends the season as a GSL Champion for the first time in his career, earning almost 36.000 USD and a direct seed into the WCS Global Finals at BlizzCon. Recap: Destructicon
Editor: Olli
