This season's Code S Finals had high expectations to live up to. it pitted two vastly different types of players, an agent of chaos and a monster of mechanics, 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.
On June 24 2017 22:28 geokilla wrote: soO is going to retire. I just know it. How can you keep on playing and be motivated to win when fail is better than second place?
On June 24 2017 22:28 geokilla wrote: soO is going to retire. I just know it. How can you keep on playing and be motivated to win when fail is better than second place?
Players who consistently go out early don't get mocked, but they don't get paid (much) either.
On June 24 2017 22:28 geokilla wrote: soO is going to retire. I just know it. How can you keep on playing and be motivated to win when fail is better than second place?
People have been saying this since he lost his second GSL finals. He'll be back next season.
That said, I am very glad for Gumiho. Finally picked up a win after all that hard work.
On June 24 2017 22:28 geokilla wrote: soO is going to retire. I just know it. How can you keep on playing and be motivated to win when fail is better than second place?
Players who consistently go out early don't get mocked, but they don't get paid (much) either.
Yea, I think i'd rather flirt with greatness (though it would be extremely EXTREMELY frustrating) than just be a non-entity
On June 24 2017 22:58 sharkie wrote: How hard did soO cry? :'(
Not at all, he did say that people should focus on GuMiho because he won and not on soo because it was his sixth finals, all in all soO was a great loser
On June 24 2017 22:58 sharkie wrote: How hard did soO cry? :'(
Not at all, he did say that people should focus on GuMiho because he won and not on soo because it was his sixth finals, all in all soO was a great loser
Great attitude. He deserves a korean league so much, but sometimes life and competition don't care about fairness.
On June 24 2017 22:28 geokilla wrote: soO is going to retire. I just know it. How can you keep on playing and be motivated to win when fail is better than second place?
If you watched the after interview, you'd know he said "I'll practice harder and try again the next time and the next time and the next time."
Awesome finals. Love both players so it was great to see GuMiho win (deservedly so); but also heartbreaking to see soO lose again.... His postfinals interview was great. Very professional and seems to have the drive to make the finals again next season. I really hope one day we can see soO lift that GSL trophy.... The cheers for soO in the audience during the match were very loud too which was pretty cool. All in all I thought soO played really well this finals. He looked on top of things, unlike the finals against Stats where he was getting drones frozen vs stasis wards over and over again. GuMiho just played fantastic, really strong showing from him all season long!
Even soO was laughing after the initial sadness from losing. Very classy little speech at the award ceremony as well. Much respect to him! Very happy for GuMiho. If soO had to lose again, I'm glad it was to someone like him and not INnoVation or Stats, who don't really need another gsl win. GuMiho played like a freaking GOD as well for people who didn't watch. It was inspiring and extremely deserved.
At the start of his career the scene was a lot different though. It's difficult to compare. Yellow did win tournaments.
But no starleagues. A Kong is usually defined as someone that can win special tournaments but not starleagues, where they'll take 2nd place (suits soO just fine as he did win KeSPA Cup).
At the start of his career the scene was a lot different though. It's difficult to compare. Yellow did win tournaments.
But no starleagues. A Kong is usually defined as someone that can win special tournaments but not starleagues, where they'll take 2nd place (suits soO just fine as he did win KeSPA Cup).
soO also has more 2nd places in Starleagues than YellOw.
I was always going to be happy for whoever won but definitely feel more sad for soO as loser than I would for Gumiho. After this many 2nd places, he's got to be starting to be philosophical about things by now... It's become a self fulfilling prophecy at this point! Good on him for turning out for Shoutcraft kings after.
I felt tonight, Gumiho's biggest edge was stylistic. They were both so sharp in that first game, soO's build was blatantly anti-mech with no gas (would have struggled against a 3 rax reaper for example) and was a perfect read of his opponent. Generally in games where soO goes for a macro style, he does better against Terran's that aggressivly attack in on him, which most Korean terrans usually do. When Gumiho didn't do any early damage with harass, he just gradually consolidated his forces, expanded, kept his composition balanced and poked slightly where he could. When broods came out, he kept his ravens and vikings behind his turrets and never over extended or flew into a concave of corruptors, vipers, or those couple of infestors, slowly whittling his opponent down. Those 3-4 battlecruisers for base denial were brilliant, showing Gumiho's mastery and insight of mech vZ. Also, the extra armour on the Thors definitely helped them fare better against the broods than I expected they would. If he had made vikings at that moment instead he might have lost.
So weird to see soO be more successful in the aggressive games ZvT games than the reactive macro zerg but I guess it was soO in. GSL final afterall. Gumiho's positioning, choice of engagements and his control have become on par or supassed his hoursemen colleagues this season and really compliment his traditional strengths with multi-tasking, build and stragegy selection.
If soO makes the Season 3 finals and loses for the seventh time I wonder if he will finally give up. He dropped away after 2014 Season 3, after all. (Until now)
Or maybe he will wait a few more years and repeat the Kong cycle until SC2 is dead and gone? Would be some irony if the pro scene gave up before soO did.
On June 24 2017 22:28 geokilla wrote: soO is going to retire. I just know it. How can you keep on playing and be motivated to win when fail is better than second place?
To be fair, GuMiHo didn't have any real success for 7 years and kept going. Making it to the GSL finals 6 times is still success.
Freaking excellent games, for gods sake, there were Battlecuisers and those were meaningful for a victory, so.. Mech is viable after all isn't it?. In another topic, I'm sure SoO will make it, eventually,
Stop saying that soO should retire after loosing season 3 final. Being in Code S finals so often, is insane achievment too. I mean, only two players of all Korean pros did that. SoO's consistency is inspiring to say at least. I believe in him and his skill, and i Know that he will win one day.
Grats to GuMiho My lb ranking leaped so high. Feel bad for soO though so if he manages to reach the Finals again next season, I will definitely cheer for him even if it's against ByuL.
I think I speak for most when I say that I hope soO don't retire. We are all waiting for him to finally win his first GSL title. The guy deserves it so much. Would be really sad if he retired without a GSL title.
Maybe Soo should consider focusing on other tournaments instead of GSL ? I mean he did play in some tournaments but he didn't really give his best like what he usually does in GSL . There are plenty of great players never won a GSL like TY, SOS, herO, Maru... but they won something else. If Soo puts more effort in other tournaments like IEM, SSL and other global event, i think he will definitely win some of them very soon.
On June 25 2017 15:47 ParksonVN wrote: Maybe Soo should consider focusing on other tournaments instead of GSL ? I mean he did play in some tournaments but he didn't really give his best like what he usually does in GSL . There are plenty of great players never won a GSL like TY, SOS, herO, Maru... but they won something else. If Soo puts more effort in other tournaments like IEM, SSL and other global event, i think he will definitely win some of them very soon.
Remember DH Stockholm? soO ransack entire bracket and then fucking choked against Solar.
you're either a "choker" or you were "coasting" through the middle of the event. when one only looks for a negative narrative all they see is negative.
I don't think is such a big drama for soO that he lost or at least not like what fans imagine. soO still remains very successful progamer and very rich after so many achieved second place prizes. And he got Kespa cup. Guhiho had nothing by now! This is still a good motivation to continue to working as a pro after so many years. Gumiho played brilliantly! He did not reached 6 lost finals, but he was waiting for more than 6 years for a championship title! I believe his hunger for a win was not lesser than soO's. I think that this final was a bit more interesting and dramatic than the most of the previous for the last two years, despite it was 4:2. I wished both of them to separate somehow this GSL title, probably in some parallel universe, but both of the deserve some great respect! And after soO's interviews before and after the match, this guy is getting cooler and cooler!
Great to see Gumiho back at the top. Hes been around a long time and it is well deserved.
I do feel a little sad for SoO, hes a great Zerg with amazing consistency which is unusual for Zerg players as they seem to flip flop between Heros to Zeros on a monthly basis
the 2nd place curse is kinda funny but soo seems to have the correct perspective on it which is that finishing 2nd a bunch of times is far better than being a nobody who never makes finals at all. which is how any rational person would also view it
Gumiho's understanding of mech builds seems to be one step ahead of everyone else. Very interesting to see if any other terran players follow his lead, or any zerg player finds a good counter
On June 26 2017 06:54 rrrzzz wrote: Gumiho's understanding of mech builds seems to be one step ahead of everyone else. Very interesting to see if any other terran players follow his lead, or any zerg player finds a good counter
Nydus the hydra roach into the main to harass instead of just having them hang out
Gumiho played beastly, but let me rant a little bit. Terran is such a tough matchup for zerg, and maybe for protoss to. Zerg can only manage a chance to win by going for risky early game aggression or god-mode macro-micro end game. Terran on the other hand can control the game at practically any point. Plus, the BC jump is such a silly idea. Meh. /rant
On June 26 2017 14:01 xwoGworwaTsx wrote: Gumiho played beastly, but let me rant a little bit. Terran is such a tough matchup for zerg, and maybe for protoss to. Zerg can only manage a chance to win by going for risky early game aggression or god-mode macro-micro end game. Terran on the other hand can control the game at practically any point. Plus, the BC jump is such a silly idea. Meh. /rant
On June 25 2017 03:33 pvsnp wrote: If soO makes the Season 3 finals and loses for the seventh time I wonder if he will finally give up. He dropped away after 2014 Season 3, after all. (Until now)
Or maybe he will wait a few more years and repeat the Kong cycle until SC2 is dead and gone? Would be some irony if the pro scene gave up before soO did.
I'm not so sure actually. It might be that his rage of finally winning is actually the one fuel to his training, maybe he would be more inclined to stopped if he actually win someday. That what happened with Jaedong SC2 in a way, he was a bit in the same position for a time.
On June 26 2017 21:38 travis wrote: Why is hide spoilers not working? As someone else said, I've put on hide spoilers and yet here this is when I get up in the morning.
Very impressive finals as they both played so well and so happy to see Gumiho win! He's been there since open seasons... Now Leenock xD Also, very mature words from Soo in the postgame interview, King of Kongs with the manners, lost too often :p
Mech Terran seems mobile as fuck nowadays with medivac boosts...
On June 26 2017 23:41 Sableyeah wrote: Very impressive finals as they both played so well and so happy to see Gumiho win! He's been there since open seasons... Now Leenock xD Also, very mature words from Soo in the postgame interview, King of Kongs with the manners, lost too often :p
Mech Terran seems mobile as fuck nowadays with medivac boosts...
You have always been able to use medivacs with mech for thor/hellion/mine drops. But that is for harass only, you can not get enough medivacs with mech to make your army mobile (you are gas starved enough as it is).
On June 26 2017 23:41 Sableyeah wrote: Very impressive finals as they both played so well and so happy to see Gumiho win! He's been there since open seasons... Now Leenock xD Also, very mature words from Soo in the postgame interview, King of Kongs with the manners, lost too often :p
Mech Terran seems mobile as fuck nowadays with medivac boosts...
You have always been able to use medivacs with mech for thor/hellion/mine drops. But that is for harass only, you can not get enough medivacs with mech to make your army mobile (you are gas starved enough as it is).
Hmm yeah true very gas heavy, I guess Soo simply got outplayed and got lategamed by continuous harass... The game he won with a real fight was by the crazy proxy hatch, legendary game :D Very fun Finals!
GuMiho playing terran like it should be played, making pretty much every unit at his disposal except for the ghost. Yet still producing superb multitasking, harass and decision making. It's refreshing to watch Terran played like this instead of Bio all day every day.
True, I have much appreciation for the Terrans who use large spectrum of units and strategies such as Gumiho or TY, and can't find much appreciation for those who can be successful due to the brute force of mechanics, but are not innovative..like Innovation
On June 28 2017 02:34 seopthi wrote: True, I have much appreciation for the Terrans who use large spectrum of units and strategies such as Gumiho or TY, and can't find much appreciation for those who can be successful due to the brute force of mechanics, but are not innovative..like Innovation
Ironically enough, INnoVation played both mech and bio in SSL finals while GuMiho played only mech in the GSL finals and actually used one of INnoVation's mech builds .
On June 28 2017 02:34 seopthi wrote: True, I have much appreciation for the Terrans who use large spectrum of units and strategies such as Gumiho or TY, and can't find much appreciation for those who can be successful due to the brute force of mechanics, but are not innovative..like Innovation
Ironically enough, INnoVation played both mech and bio in SSL finals while GuMiho played only mech in the GSL finals and actually used one of INnoVation's mech builds .
On June 28 2017 02:34 seopthi wrote: True, I have much appreciation for the Terrans who use large spectrum of units and strategies such as Gumiho or TY, and can't find much appreciation for those who can be successful due to the brute force of mechanics, but are not innovative..like Innovation
Ironically enough, INnoVation played both mech and bio in SSL finals while GuMiho played only mech in the GSL finals and actually used one of INnoVation's mech builds .
He played bio on Frost.
You're right and I forgot about that game. He would probably still play mech if there was a good way to do it after a mass reaper opening. His bio wasn't very good.
On June 28 2017 02:34 seopthi wrote: True, I have much appreciation for the Terrans who use large spectrum of units and strategies such as Gumiho or TY, and can't find much appreciation for those who can be successful due to the brute force of mechanics, but are not innovative..like Innovation
Ironically enough, INnoVation played both mech and bio in SSL finals while GuMiho played only mech in the GSL finals and actually used one of INnoVation's mech builds .
One mech build after killing ~20 drones with hellions...
On June 28 2017 02:34 seopthi wrote: True, I have much appreciation for the Terrans who use large spectrum of units and strategies such as Gumiho or TY, and can't find much appreciation for those who can be successful due to the brute force of mechanics, but are not innovative..like Innovation
Ironically enough, INnoVation played both mech and bio in SSL finals while GuMiho played only mech in the GSL finals and actually used one of INnoVation's mech builds .
He played bio on Frost.
You're right and I forgot about that game. He would probably still play mech if there was a good way to do it after a mass reaper opening. His bio wasn't very good.
On June 28 2017 02:34 seopthi wrote: True, I have much appreciation for the Terrans who use large spectrum of units and strategies such as Gumiho or TY, and can't find much appreciation for those who can be successful due to the brute force of mechanics, but are not innovative..like Innovation
Ironically enough, INnoVation played both mech and bio in SSL finals while GuMiho played only mech in the GSL finals and actually used one of INnoVation's mech builds .
Exactly this, INnoVation gets a lot of crap for being boring and ultraorthodox, but the man has six Premier trophies in his cabinet to Gumiho's one and TY's two (one if you don't count WESG). Playing super-standard might not impress random TL posters but it wins big shiny trophies. And I think we all know which of those two is more important (insert smartaass comment about winning the internet ).
Bottom line is, if he wins tournaments (and he wins a lot), why the fuck would Inno change his style?
I too appreciate Gumiho's creativity and TY's brains, but I copy Inno's builds, not theirs.
On June 28 2017 02:34 seopthi wrote: True, I have much appreciation for the Terrans who use large spectrum of units and strategies such as Gumiho or TY, and can't find much appreciation for those who can be successful due to the brute force of mechanics, but are not innovative..like Innovation
Ironically enough, INnoVation played both mech and bio in SSL finals while GuMiho played only mech in the GSL finals and actually used one of INnoVation's mech builds .
Exactly this, INnoVation gets a lot of crap for being boring and ultraorthodox, but the man has six Premier trophies in his cabinet to Gumiho's one and TY's two (one if you don't count WESG). Playing super-standard might not impress random TL posters but it wins big trophies. And I think we all know which of those two is more important (insert smartaass comment about winning the internet). If he wins tournaments (and wins a lot), why the fuck would Inno change his style?
I too appreciate Gumiho's creativity and TY's brains, but I copy Inno's builds, not theirs.
On June 28 2017 02:34 seopthi wrote: True, I have much appreciation for the Terrans who use large spectrum of units and strategies such as Gumiho or TY, and can't find much appreciation for those who can be successful due to the brute force of mechanics, but are not innovative..like Innovation
Ironically enough, INnoVation played both mech and bio in SSL finals while GuMiho played only mech in the GSL finals and actually used one of INnoVation's mech builds .
Exactly this, INnoVation gets a lot of crap for being boring and ultraorthodox, but the man has six Premier trophies in his cabinet to Gumiho's one and TY's two (one if you don't count WESG). Playing super-standard might not impress random TL posters but it wins big trophies. And I think we all know which of those two is more important (insert smartaass comment about winning the internet). If he wins tournaments (and wins a lot), why the fuck would Inno change his style?
I too appreciate Gumiho's creativity and TY's brains, but I copy Inno's builds, not theirs.
On July 01 2017 04:55 lorestarcraft wrote: When soO played game 1 perfectly and still lost, I knew it was over
I agree that the outcome was clear when SoO lost that first game, but he did not play perfectly. He defended the harass perfectly, but he had no plan to damage Gumiho in the lategame. He just survived and let Gumiho get his perfect composition and then took cost-ineffective engagements.
I went back and watched that game. A nydus into the main with his hydra roach would have changed everything.
On July 01 2017 04:55 lorestarcraft wrote: When soO played game 1 perfectly and still lost, I knew it was over
I agree that the outcome was clear when SoO lost that first game, but he did not play perfectly. He defended the harass perfectly, but he had no plan to damage Gumiho in the lategame. He just survived and let Gumiho get his perfect composition and then took cost-ineffective engagements.
I went back and watched that game. A nydus into the main with his hydra roach would have changed everything.
Maybe but I doubt that would have worked. Gumiho had two sensor towers up and about 15 vikings. With that setup, it's pretty hard to get in and out with an overlord and actually pull off the nydus to boot. Long story short, Gumiho lost more units than I could count during the harass but with terran's safe setup and mule-based economy, losing all those units doesn't really matter much. If it was a protoss or zerg player that failed that hard with their harass, the game would have been over. As zerg has sad harass options against a turtling terran, Gumiho basically collected spellcasters to use for free units and won the battle by attrition.
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. 
. There are plenty of great players never won a GSL like TY, SOS, herO, Maru... but they won something else. If Soo puts more effort in other tournaments like IEM, SSL and other global event, i think he will definitely win some of them very soon. ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/monk/News/InnovationFlowers.jpg)
