AoV iCCup Starleague Grand Finals

AoV's StarLeague
Grand Finals - Best of 9

Scan < Python >

Ace

Scan < Match Point >

Ace

Scan < Sin Peaks of Baekdu >

Ace
Loser picks from: Benzene, Bloody Ridge, Tau Cross 1.1, Destination, Aztec, Neo Medusa, Heartbreak Ridge

by Dan1870220133262

After a full month of gaming, the AoV StarLeague is finally coming to an end. On Saturday, April 23rd, 19:00 GMT (+00:00) the ISL's match for 3rd/4th place kicks off, followed by the Grand Finals between

Scan and

Ace in an epic Best of 9 cast by Sayle and Diggity. Let's meet our players!

Scan
#40 Ladder (51-14)
Ro56 - 2-0

Playa &

Cute
Bracket - 2-1

Michael // 3-1

Szajna // 3-2

Sziky // 4-1

Heme
Overall: 14 - 5 //

: 6-3

+ Show Spoiler [The Infamous Scan] +

Scan is a student and relatively young player, though he has been playing Brood War for many years. He is A ranked on iCCup showing proficiency in Terran, and he is perhaps the most controversial player in the tournament. Although Scan has been accused and found guilty of many scandals and bad manner, he is still one of the best players outside of the Korean Proleagues today. Scan played his offraces in the ladder stage, and in the group stage Scan came out first place from his group with convincing wins over

Playa and

Cute. In the Round of 32, Scan faced off against Michael. Scan did end up dropping the second game of this series in a complete build order counter. Scan went vultures against Michael's two hatch muta, but being as it was a Best of Three, Scan's massively superior standard play managed to hold out and take the series in the third game. In the Round of 16, Scan was set to show his talents in TvT as he faced off against SzajnA. This series was also no close contest as Scan took it in a convincing fashion with a 3-1 score. Finally, to complete his journey to the semi finals, Scan had to take out one of the favored players to win the entire tournament. Scan took a 2-0 lead over Sziky and it looked as though the series was in the books. But just when we all thought there was no way Sziky would come back, he tied up the series, forcing a final deciding ace match in the Best of Five. Although Sziky had ample heart to pull himself back in to the series, it just was not meant to be and Scan ended Sziky's ISL hopes 3-2. Now, Scan rises to face Heme in a TvT chess match. It is said that Scan outclasses Heme in this particular matchup, although with a few of the original favorites for the entire tournament eliminated, I think it's safe to say that anything can happen.

+ Show Spoiler [Interview] +

Q: What were your feelings about ISL when it was originally announced?

A: I felt it was great because I haven't played a lot of official tournaments and I think there are not many Brood War tournaments since StarCraft 2 came out.

Q: How did you progress through the qualifying ladder section? How difficult was it? Did you ever have think you might not make it? Any other feelings/thoughts?

A: First of all, I played TSL2 ladder qualification before playing ISL. In that time, I was a rusty Terran player because I came back to play StarCraft again in 2007. I had forgotten a lot of strategies and I was getting my skills back. After 1 year, I heard about ISL from people and I decided to play since I've practiced a lot since those days. I felt comfortable that I'll qualify and it wasn't really difficult for me. You might have realized if u checked my ISL ladder replays folder, I played only Zerg/Protoss. I made it with decent win ratio. I believed that I could make it by playing offraces.

Q: How did you feel about your group of the group stage?

A: I felt it would be easy for me to advance to the Ro32. I was guessing JoeKim and I would advance to the Ro32. However, I was extremely suprised when Cute beat JoeKim twice in a row. I also felt Cute had a lot of practice before the Ro56 started.

Q: At what pointcould you see that you would make it into the semi finals, and do you have any doubts about any of the upcoming matches?

A: When Ro32 brackets were posted, I saw a lot of Zergs and Terrans on my side. I felt that it was going to be fun because I love TvZ. On the other hand, I saw a lot of Protoss players on bracket 2 and I was like wow. How come all protoss players on that side? I don't know how LRM)Game did this but it was fine for me because I like TvZ.

Q: Many would say that Sziky was the best player in the tournament and favored him to win, what were your thoughts on having to face him in the quarter finals?

A: Before the ISL was announced, I played against him TvZ 5 ladder games. I killed him 5-0. when the fifth game almost over, he bmed me that I have a lot of marines and vessels without tanks (blatant lie because Sziky doesn't speak English). I was really disappointed with him because of that attitude and that time, he started hating me so much and bm'd me everytime he sees me (another lie because again.. he doesn't speak English). I also couldn't play a lot of games after Ro16 was finished because I had a lot of things to do concerning school. I was hoping that I'll win him 3-1 or 3-2.

Q: So as far as predictions go who do you think will make the finals from the other bracket?

A: I think Ace has a higher probability to make the final than Deska since he has decent multitasks and plays aggressively.

Q: Okay, so if you had your way, who would be the preferable matchup for the finals?

A: I think the final match up will be Scan vs Ace. I've played against Heme many games and he plays so dirty and he really needs to understand TvT. He always tries to finish the game as fast as he can. I also met him at the iCCup Ladder tournament and I wanted to see his TvZ. I played Zerg and omg.. I was like "really?" because I was owning him so badly even though I wasn't playing Terran. And I heard Heme's best matchup is TvZ. I'm feeling bad that I can't play against Kolll in the semifinal because Kolll got eliminated by Heme.

Q: Game has announced a new tournament project that is supposed to put ISL to shame, what are your feelings on this? Thoughts?

A: It would be great and I'll participate his new tournament.

Q: How much do you believe you have progressed since the start of the tournament?

A: I believe I have progressed, I practiced a lot since the start of the tournament. I appreciate to Minus)ZerG, Ever)P(Yuka, Mahell, Melody[WHITE], kOkOmi[WHITE], and Minus)Master because they are the people helping me to practice the most for my next match up for ISL.

Q: How do you feel about going into a best of 7 TvT?

A: Best of 7 TvT is going to be fun, but will be somewhat boring.

Q: Any shout outs you'd like to make?

A: Censored for EXCESSIVE BM and gloating from Scan.

by Eywa

Ace
#1 Ladder (123-63)
Ro56 - 2-0

Jumper &

Roman
Bracket - 2-0

Alfiomerda // 3-1

Shauni // 3-0

Jumper // 4-2

Deska
Overall: 14 - 3 //

: 0-0

+ Show Spoiler [Ace, the Sniper Zerg] +

Ace is a Hungarian Zerg player and the top qualifier of the ladder round. He has been playing Brood War for the past 8 years and is now part of team sas. Ace was a top 16 finisher in WCG 2008 and a participant in many iCCup tournaments. Ace is now the only remainning player from the top six who had the privilege of picking their groups for the Round of 56. In the group stage, Ace easily took down Jumper and Roman 2-0 each to advance to the next round. In the Round of 32, Ace took on Alfiomerda and moved on with a 2-0 victory in the series. Shauni was his Round of 16 opponent, but Shauni fell to Ace with a score of 1-3, giving Ace his first loss of the tournament. Ace swept his quarterfinal matchup against Jumper dominating it 3-0. Ace has taken the least amount of losses so far in the tournament, although every one of Ace's games have been Zerg versus Protoss. DeSka is the first Zerg he will have to face, and although Ace is favored to win this series, ZvZ can really go either way and Deska flourishes in low economy play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsHA4lVK9w8

+ Show Spoiler [Interview] +

Q: What were your feelings about ISL when it was originally announced?

A: I was really happy because there are not many Brood War tournaments nowadays. I had no reason to play ladder before ISL was annouced, so I got my motivation back. I hope there will be more great tournaments like ISL in the future!

Q: How did you progress through the qualifying ladder section? How difficult was it? Did you ever have think you might not make it? Any other feelings/thoughts?

A: I knew I was going to make it because I can play more ladder games than anyone if needed. To qualify in ladder stage wasn't that hard, but to win the first place was. Sziky was a really powerful opponent and I think he's a little better than me. On the last day I needed like 600-700 points to get more points than Sziky, so I played several games against OliveRealSkin, who's a really good korean Protoss. I beat him 5-2 or something like that, that's how I managed to win it.

Q: You were one of the few people who had the privilege of picking your group for the Round of 56. How did you decide who to pick?

A: The first thing, when I picked, was to choose some opponents, who I think I would win against. The second thing was to not choose Zerg opponents, because in ZvZ anything can happen. So I chose Jumper, Roman and Dollar.

Q: At what point could you see that you would make it this far and do you have any doubts/concerns about your upcoming matches?

A: This point was when O saw my bracket for the first time. I saw there were not any players like Sziky, Heme, Ramms or Scan. I think these 4 players have the biggest chance to win against me. My next opponet is DeSka, who's a Zerg player. I think I'm going to win like 4-2, 4-1, but you know, in ZvZ anything can happen.

Q: So as far as predictions go, who do you think will make the finals from the other bracket?

A: I think if Scan were to play zerg, he would beat Heme in ZvT, but!! In the past weeks I have not seen Scan playing Zerg, so it's going to be TvT. In TvT I think Heme has a little advantage and I think Heme will win, but it's gonna be a close match anyway.

Q: Who would you rather face?

A: Heme.

Q: How much do you believe you have progressed since the start of the tournament?

A: I think I've progressed a lot, because I become better in every week by practicing a lot.

Q: Deska seems to be pretty well known for being a cheeser, do you think you are prepared for any deviations from standard play that may occur?

A: In ZvZ, I don't think he can cheese me, with ling scout and overlord, I think I'm going to be prepared for all cheeses. I'm not going to play different against him than I usually play.

Q: Any last shout outs?

A: Zerg power, Hungary fighting and gogo SAS!

by Eywa

Both players have an excellent track record. With Scan destroying

Heme (who took out

Kolll) as well as making it past

Sziky on his way to the finals he is the favourite going into this finals. He's the highest ranked foreigner on the iCCup ladder as well as, to use Sziky's words, "idiot Korean [he] all day play".

Ace, the Sniper Zerg, had some very strong ZvP showings and, despite going on as the underdog, he does have a couple of things going for him. Having played no ZvTs throughout the tournament, he has a scouting advantage with a lot of info on his opponent who just played a Bo5 TvZ in his quarterfinals match. Additionally Ace might have a thirst for revenge after Scan knocked out his fellow countryman. Interestingly enough, both players claim TvZ / ZvT resp. as their best matchup. It's almost needless to conclude that we are looking at a Grand Final of epic proportions.