[SWL] KT Rolster vs. STX SouL

We haven't had one of these for a while, have we? I'm happy to present to you this Q&A with Moopie for KT and Ideas for STX. Enjoy!

---

1) Coming into this Match, KT is undefeated in Winners League while STX was the first non-ACE allkilled team of 2011. On the other hand, KT has a lot to take revenge for, the previous matches of the season ended 4-1 in STX’s favor, and a STX player knocked out Flash from both Starleagues (Kal and Classic, respectively). How would you rate the teams mindsets coming into the arena?

moopie: I think KT is very strong right now, so past losses aren't going to affect them too much mentally. KT being undefeated is indeed very nice, but the fact that Flash isn't the sole cause of that is even better. Stats and Violet have been performing great so far in WL and I expect that to continue. With any luck Action will be joining them soon. KT definitely has the momentum at the moment to push through any obstacle.

ideas: KT’s gotta be feeling good being undefeated right now, and STX has been so unpredictable this season that I have no idea. Kal and Calm would lose PL games they shouldn’t and then immediately after destroy this individual leagues, and then there are days when they don’t play very well in individual leagues but then FrOzen and Bogus destroy whatever team they play.

2) The situations of Rounds 1&2 seem to be entirely reversed. „Deep“ teams like Hite Entus and STX SouL, previously 2&3, are collapsing in front of teams that were said to be lacking in depth beforehand. TaekBangLee (Note: not adding Ssang is intentional) is on fire. What are your thoughts? Will this Winners League have good or bad results (interpret this in any way you please) in the big picture?

moopie: It was expected coming into WL that depth would play a lesser part than individual S-class players as that is the nature of the beast. However I think that so far (with the exception of SKT's 1-hit-wonder) the winning teams have been largely group efforts instead of relying on the ace players, which is a welcome surprise. I expect KT to rise quite a few spots between now and the end of round 4.

ideas: This is exactly how I expected Winner’s League to go, although with Jaedong doing better. It’s actually been weird to see this Winner’s League favor Protoss a bit more than Terran result-wise, but that’s fine with me. I’m really excited about there being 2 rounds of WL, since there are a lot of teams that do poorly in the beginning of the round that bounce back at the end as they get conditioned to WL or something. I predict that next round will be a lot different.

3)Having recently seen the movie again, I’d like to force my dear fanboys to draw comparisons. Who are your teams „ the Good“, „ the Bad“, and „the Ugly“, and why?

moopie: Ouch, no polite way to answer that. Well, going by this season's performances so far, the good would undoubtedly be Flash and Stats.

The bad would be Tempest, who for some reason kept getting sent out even though he is 0-7 so far. I'm sure he is performing good in practice or he wouldn't be sent out, but until he gets his nerves under control, enough is enough.

As for ugly.. I'm sorry mafia zerg (in terms of play damnit). Action has hit a major slump since his transfer to KT. His play in live games has been sloppy, and far too often he makes noob mistakes that are painful to watch even though his fans know he is capable of so much more. His most recent game against HiyA is a perfect example of this. HiyA commited to a 4-rax timing, but tipped his hand by showing the marine count for a couple minutes before moving out as he micro'd them in and out of his base. Action sees hordes of marines and decides to make 1 sunken... 1. That game was the definition of ugly.

ideas: the Good: Bogus. He’s just so adorable!

the Bad: Kal. I just get mad at him every season around this time when he always underperforms in leagues. He’s better than this, goddamnit!

the Ugly: Modesty. The OSL was just…

4)Both teams are doing badly in individual leagues in January, as Calm and Modesty, while getting far, were knocked out with some pretty badly played games, and both Calm and Kal are down 1-0 in a bo5 against their respective opponents. KT Rolster, on the other hand, dropped out early in both tournaments. Have KT’s players overcome their weaknesses that caused them to drop out? Can Calm and Kal pull themselves together for this Winners League match?

moopie: Judging by Stats' recent play, I would say he is on top of his game, so I definitely expect better of him next season. As for Flash, I don't think he has much of a weakness to overcome in dropping the leagues. Flash's losses seemed to be complete flukes as he hasn't dropped a single game since and his play has been in top form. The only loss that could be excused is to Kal on Aztec, which is a hard TvP map (on top of which Kal is a badass). Whether or not those losses were attributed to his wrist injury or another issue is unknown, but its in the past now.

ideas: Well when you talk about individual leagues with KT, you mean Flash. And I think getting knocked out early in both leagues has really re-motivated him. He’s probably the scariest player to play right now, and even scarier than before.
I think Kal and Calm are definitely still in the MSL (and in fact Calm seems to make it a habit of losing the 1st game in a series), but it will be tough for both of them. Especially Kal, he is really weak in Bo5s, and great has got nothing to lose.

5) Will KT make another allkill this round? How about any of the STX players?

moopie: That all depends on how KT players perform as a whole. Currently, if there is an all-kill to be performed, it will be Stats' as he has been getting sent out early. Flash has been saved for last, so an all-kill would require everyone on KT to lose without a single kill, which while not impossible, seems unlikely currently. I am a huge fan of KT's SWL lineups so far, and while Flash can't boast about all-kills, its far more important for KT to show their depth and strength. In the meanwhile Flash gets time to rest his wrist, so everybody wins.

ideas: Most definitely KT will make more Allkills. Anytime Flash gets a chance pretty much lol. I think STX might make 1 Allkill, probably from Kal or someone random like Shuttle/Bogus/FrOzen.

6) Who will the First Zerg player to get an all-kill be? Protoss is far ahead and BaBy recently scored the first one for Terran.

moopie: Jaedong would be the obvious choice, if he can regain his composure. Failing that, my money is on ZerO.

ideas: It will be a shame if it’s not Jaedong.

7) Which 4 players will be sent out for the teams? Might this go to an Ace match because the 4 maps at the beginning are not favorable for any race in all matchups?

moopie: Stats should be sent out first, for Bloody Ridge. If he loses before Aztec, I expect Violet to follow up. Icarus would be the best time to send Action out, and Flash will clean up whatever is left. Its hard to predict how many matches this will go to since STX's performance can be a bit shaky. Should STX be in the zone I definitely expect this to go all the way to 7.

ideas: I’m guessing from KT, like EVERY match it seems, Violet, Flash, Stats, and Action.
STX I’m going to say will send out Kal, Calm, Classic, and Bogus. I have no idea if it will go to an ace match, there are just way too many factors to predict at all. It’d be awesome if it did though :D.

8) Some of the wierder coaching choices have been to send out Action and by.hero, who haven’t performed too well as of now. How do you explain this?

moopie: I can't speak for by.hero, but as for Action I think the coaches are trying to get him over his slump. I'm certain he is performing well in practice, and as we know from his eStro days Action puts in a LOT of hours for practicing, the kid is a machine. The coaching staff clearly knows his potential or they wouldn't send him out over other players who perform better in practice. It should only be a matter of time until he recovers his game.

ideas: The only way to get a player to start performing well is to let them perform well eventually. I can’t speak for KT but by.hero was sent out when STX was in no real danger (never in any clutch matches), and you see a lot of teams do this when they’re ahead or not in any danger.

9) Will Bogus and Violet be able to continue their good momentum and destruction of antiteams?

moopie: I really hope so! Its great when that happens because it shows people nobody is to be underestimated.

ideas: I hope so. It’s always great to see players like them that have actually been around for a while finally start to get their feet wet.

10) Predict the outcome of this match, and to give something to fans of other teams, also predict which teams will make it into the WL playoffs!

moopie: Fanboyism aside, its hard to vote against KT with their recent performances. Its unclear whether or not they will have to use Flash for this set, but they are the favorites here. KT is of course also on track for the WL playoffs, but STX is definitely in the running as well. Either way, we still have a round and a half, so everything could change.

ideas: STX will win 4-3. WL playoffs are the top 4 teams, right? Then I suppose it will be KT, SKT1, Hite, and STX.

Finally, any last words?

moopie: As usual when KT and STX face off, I just want to see good games, regardless of who wins.

ideas: Calm vs Fantasy was one of the top 5 Bo5s in the last year.

mustaju: It's incredible to have a community that can (and DOES) literally whip these up in just a few hours within requests. I love you, guys.