By fishuu

If there's one thing November has taught us, it's that Leenock has finally become the nerd-killing octo-limbed coke-can-crushing beast we all hoped he would. He may not yet be the World's best Zerg (more on that below), but damn is he the most entertaining.

One year ago, the 15 year old Leenock settled into the left ventricle of fans everywhere with his epic 2-1 victory over (allegedly*) the best player in the World. At the time, it was arguably the greatest SC2 match anyone had seen. Leenock amazed with his incredible micro, creative decision making, and his knack for the theatric (there was even a network drop-out and regame in the first game of that match).

Fast forward one year from that famous match versus Clide, and things have come full circle. Again, Leenock was pitted against the best player in the World. And once again, he came through by the skin of his teeth in a sterling ZvT that had fans straining the edges of their chairs. But this time around his opponent was legitimately the best player in the World, IMMvp, and the match was for a chance to play in the Code S Final.

Leenock's road to destiny has been anything but smooth. Just as quickly as he had ascended to Code S, he crashed back into Code A. His play back then was rich with flashes of genius, but highly erratic. For a time, it seemed he may go the way of other great Zergs of that vintage. Hell, I remember a time when Kyrix and Fruitdealer were my favorite players (who are they again?). But Leenock wasn't losing his edge. He was just finding his limits. And anybody pushing the envelope that far will occasionally overstep the margins.

Watching Leenock evolve has been like watching the growth of a fine mind under the microscope. Match by match, unruly synapses have been pruned, brilliance has been refined. Now, all the shards of genius have fallen into place to form one of the strongest Zergs in the World: a player who looks equally at home droning like Ret, or all-ining like July. His attention to detail is unrivaled. Nobody else utilizes burrow as sexily. Nobody else achieves such magnetic surrounds. Those who don't think Zerg units can be microed as well as the other races' forces need to observe Leenock and reconsider.

The two words that best characterize Leenock's play are Opportunism and Creativity. If you leave open even the narrowest gap, Leenock will have Zerglings in your main faster than the Adjutant can say "Our SCVs are under attack". If you leave a single spot in your base uncovered, he will Nydus Worm his way in. If you were planning to take a third, he already has creep on it and a Zergling burrowed there. Even the best players can succumb to this level of unabated pressure. And Leenock is not afraid to try unconventional solutions. If the game calls for a 12-minute Hive, then you better believe Leenock has a Hive on the way already.

Leenock's triumph over a stellar line-up at MLG Providence was a landmark achievement. He finally proved that he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Nestea, DongRaeGu, and LosirA, as the Zerg crème de la crème. Now he has a golden opportunity to not only prove MLG was no fluke, but to become the third ever Zerg to conquer the GSL.

Certainly, it's premature to question Nestea's place on the Zerg throne. But at a time when Nestea's form is looking somewhat shaky, overcoming MVP (the one player Nestea has consistently struggled against) not once but twice is a symbolic achievement for Leenock. In the round of 8 against sC, MVP was admittedly not looking his finest. The 3-0 scoreline belied what could well have been 1-2 in sC's favor. But in the Semi-Final, MVP was at his sharpest, coming back again and again from positions that seemed hilariously lopsided. But as much as he resisted, eventually he was crushed within the grasp of Leenock, like a still full can of Coke.

So what are Leenock's chances in the Final? Having just beaten the strongest Terran in the World, it's tempting to say this ZvT should be a walkover. But jjakji has looked brilliant this tournament. Because of the way he has materialized out of the blue, it's hard to judge just how much he is capable of, or how strong his nerves will be when playing for the absolute highest honor. Whatever the case, with Leenock involved, this GSL Final should be all that the past eleven should have been – and more.



*According to Artosis

By fishuu

Coming into this November season in my preview article, I stated that Jjakji is a very intriguing player. His games before this season hadn't been mind blowing or anything more than just very solid Terran play that I've seen showcased by many others in the GSL, but he was routinely picked as one of the final players in the Code S Group Selections. To be one of the final players picked out of the thirty two best players in the world; it must say something about your ability. Even with his high ELO, impressive play in online tournaments and ace status on the upcoming NsHoSeo team, he was still one of the most overlooked players in the entire competition

So, what did this mysterious do to silence the critics? Well, thus far in this tournament, I've learned three important things about the young man.

1. He is very good. No, I would not rank him with the MVP or Fin's of the world in terms of mechanics, or maybe not even in the top five Terrans currently in the world, but he has proven that he is a very strong player this tournament. Most notably, his quarterfinal series against Puzzle was the one time this entire tournament where I saw a true glimpse of why so many of the top Koreans feared playing him in the first round. His play was crisp, powerful, and most importantly, the most creative I've seen in TvP in months.

2. His imagination has no boundaries. Jjakji reminds me of Kiwikaki if he was Terran, a Korean, and had better mechanics. Jjakji is one of the most imaginative, innovative and exciting Terrans that we have seen come through the scene in a long, long time. Even when his builds fail, such as when his sneaky reaper and ghost build got smacked down by MVP in the round of sixteen, you can tell that he had more tricks up his sleeve than a magician. Like mentioned before, his series against Puzzle showed how good he can be when his genius builds can come to light. When they fail, they look awful and foolish. When they work, Jjakji truly looks like one of the smartest players in the world.

3. Luck is truly on his side. In the history of GSL, there has always been luck. To become a champion, you must get lucky somewhere; maybe you can draw your best match-up more times than your worst. You might get to face someone you are extremely confident against instead of someone you have lost to many times on the ladder. Perhaps most importantly, completely unpredictable, totally crazy things can happen. For example, in Open Season 3, when it looked like we were going to see MC versus Nestea, Rain came out of nowhere, cheesed Nestea out of the tournament, and gave MC a much easier time winning the title. Don't feel bad for Nestea, though; he had the same type of luck in GSL May when it was shaping up to be Nada vs. Nestea in an old school Brood War showdown everyone in the world wanted to see. Inca didn't agree with that storyline, cheesed out Nada, and made the final as one of the biggest surprises of the year. What came next was the worst GSL final of all-time (yeah, it was that bad) with Inca trying to DT rush Nestea four times, failing all four times, and getting thrown straight into Code B two seasons later.

Jjakji, for all his skill, might actually be the luckiest player in GSL history. Let's run through his road to the final:

• RO32 – First off, he gets one of the easier groups. Out of SuperNova, Virus, and Killer, the furthest any of them had ever gone was the quarterfinals. He started out losing to Killer in a one-sided affair and was one game away from getting eliminated to the bottom of Code A. In his second game against SuperNova, they both went for the same build; a proxy marauder build that was meant to finish the game straight away. To be perfectly honest, Jjakji should have went 0-2 and straight out of the tournament. SuperNova had the game won, but made poor decisions and choked the game away. With a second chance at life after being all but out of it, Jjakji went on to beat Virus in a dominating fashion to get second place in the group.
  
  
  

  
  
  Just one of the amazing turns in Jjakji's road to the championship. Mining from his opponent's base in an elimination game.
  
  
  
• RO16 – Alright, he survived an opening group that could have gone either way. He came back from losing the first game to somehow beat SuperNova and take down Virus. Next up is MVP, the best player in the world; Coca, one of the strongest Zergs currently in the GSL and coming off a strong 2-0 performance in his RO32 group; and Gumiho, an emerging Terran from FXO who beat both Bomber and DongRaeGu in his group. Unlucky, right?
  
  Nope. Coca, in one of the most outrageous stories in SC2 this year, got demoted to the B-team of Slayers and had to quit the GSL due to a scandal with former ZeNex teammate Byun in one of the Korean Weekly tournaments. With Coca out, Jjakji had a 66.6% chance of getting out of the group. His unique build against MVP didn't work, and he was once again a game away from being out of the tournament. Due to Coca quitting, he got a free win and only had to beat Gumiho once to get out of the group. He did just that with solid play against the FXO Terran and made his way to his first quarterfinal.
  
  
  

  
  
  Coca deciding to throw away a won game against Byun and move onto a third game, resulting in the forfeit of his coveted Code S spot.
  
  
  
• RO8 – Puzzle, his round of eight opponent, had just gone to the recent MLG Providence event and was just back from America. While Puzzle was practicing for MLG and playing those games, Jjakji was in Korea, getting ready for his opponent. The games weren't very close, with Puzzle losing two straight before deciding to all-in in the third game to no avail. This was easily the best play from Jjakji the entire tournament, but you have to wonder if MLG and jet lag had anything to do with the dominating performance against Puzzle.
  
  
• Semi-finals – Alright, this one was more so Oz playing badly than anything luck involved. Jjakji played a very solid five game series and got the win in the fifth set. For some reason, Oz decided to do more cheesy builds than more of a standard style, losing games that he might not have if he played straight up. When Oz played standard, he looked pretty good in the series, but he decided to play for more non-standard games, losing against the more sturdy player.