Altitude NW Finals

10 Weeks have passed and here we stand before you, with a match of unprecedented brilliance. Both teams having proven great skill and dedication time and time again thus bringing these teams to a whole new level from what we have previously witnessed. Though both are equally deserving of the title, only one will take home the money. Team USA has shown the absolute best management in the league up to date which is in no small portion to credit for their flawless record, while on the other side of the table we have a team whom has made it through with brute force by the best and most consistent lineup in the league. Now it comes to it, one loss between the two teams, who will take it home? Tune in to find out!

Maps
< Jade >
< Electric Circuit >
< Troy >
< Ground Zero >
< Destination >
< La Mancha >
< Neo Aztec >

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+ Show Spoiler [Results] +

Hype!!

Poland has only taken 1 loss in the Altitude Nation Wars and that came early in the season to Team Russia. Ever since, Poland has been making minced meat out of their competition. No team has proven to be a challenge for this Polish team ever since the beginning of the second half of the season. Poland has the strongest 1v1 and 2v2 line ups in the league, that being said, they are the favorite to win this match. However, weaknesses do linger in their lineup and they could find themselves taking losses to knowledgeable and prepared players.

Top Players

Mazur - Team Captain
Race:
Stats: 8-0

Mazur has thus far been the go-to guy for Poland. He has won his matches all over the course of the season and playoffs, he's made it through the group of death without a scratch and took the ace games when needed. He's probably feeling pretty confident going into this week's match considering that he trusts in his own capability and his team also does. Now, Mazur is of course really well known for his PvZ and everyone is aware that his PvP and PvT are much much weaker. Before people rage about me saying that Mazur's other match ups are vulnerable, let me elaborate. So, While Mazur has played many Protosses and Terrans in the Altitude Nation Wars, none of these Terrans and Protosses were of high enough caliber to really take advantage of Mazur's weaknesses. Mazur's PvZ is A caliber so naturally, even if his PvT and PvP are weaker, B-/B players will not be able to exploit this. Realistically, Heroes and LML are not good illustrations for PvP, LML is B- and Heroes is better in his other match ups. Also, M is just a B rank Terran yet he still managed to take a game off Mazur. So while the statistics would say that his other match ups are up to par, they really aren't which is what I was saying previously about Poland still being mortal, most of their players have very specific strengths which could hurt them against a very well prepared team. Now, off the subject of his other races, Mazur's PvZ while this is his best match up and it's capable of defeating any foreign Zerg, its predictable. It's the same early Zealot aggression, cannon rush(if unseen), very little mid game, massive lategame. He plays the same style every game of course because it works and the more familiar he is, the better he'll be at repeating that style, however the reason I am putting all of this out there is not because I think for sure Mazur will lose, no, I think his chances of winning are probably around 80%, however, if any team could take him down, its the United States because as I've said previously, they seem to have the best staff as far as getting game insight.

SouthPark
Race:
Stats: 6-2 // 3-0
SouthPark is another player who has done extraordinarily well over the course of Nation Wars. He holds the second best score on team Poland and is nearly guaranteed to be their 2v2 player along with Lurek. Realistically, SouthPark's success in 1v1 is in no small portion due to his opponents not being prepared for his play style. He is very proficient within the ZvZ match up and can take any unsuspecting Terran and/or protoss. Though as we narrow down the competition, scenarios of unprepared players becomes more and more unlikely. There is not much real hope for a mid to late game win from SouthPark in these match ups. A solid two base play capable of holding off any muta/ling(for terran) and Hydra/ling(for Protoss) should make easy work at SouthPark. Any over expansion and greedy play will really be punished hard by SouthPark's micro oriented style. In terms of ZvZ, he'll be facing players of fairly even caliber. And so, it'll really come down to build orders and small variations in micro ability/stamina. So, SouthPark will most likely win the 2v2 unless somehow the united states learns to counter zz very well. Otherwise, I don't think he'll fair too well in a non-ZvZ 1v1, though this prediction really depends more on the preparation taken by his opponent then his own play.

Choosy
Race:
Stats: 6-3
Choosy is pretty much the opposite of his teammates, absolutely unpredictable to the largest possible extent. He is proficient in all three races, however, realistically, he should refrain from playing Terran being as it's his weakest and I don't expect him to. So, Choosy is a very knowledgeable player which always has an interesting play to pull out on his opponent with both Protoss and Zerg. There is no real easy way to counter Choosy aside from good scouting and overall stronger play. Being as he can't be predicted, there wont be any win based on preparation. Choosy on his own is deadly to start with, however he's even more dangerous given proper preparation. He is basically the master of countering a predictable player which of course has to be taken into account by his opponent's scouting. Against an even strength opponent, it'll really come down to scouting and proper response timings. Choosy can defeat almost any player on team USA, however he can also be defeated by any of their players.

TrutaCz
Race:
Stats: 5-2 // 3-3
TrutaCz is a very proficient 2v2 player which really makes him a lot like SouthPark as far as skill. However, TrutaCz puts in a greater effort to play standard in 1v1 games. His ZvZ is obviously his best match up considering that he is such a micro oriented player. However, his other match ups don't really hold up. His late game play really is not up to par and so any player who can make it past the mid game should be able to take a series against TrutaCz. Now, I really think out of all the players on team Poland, TrutaCz is the least likely to gather a win vT or vP, however, he has the best vZ.

Pike
Race:
Stats: 4-1
Pike is another of the more well rounded players from Poland. Though, given the situation, I think he'd be best suited against Semih or Jumper as he has shown great skills in ZvP in the past which is probably his best match up. I don't think he would fare was well against flip or Michael in ZvZ and while he could take out Game, I think he would be better off taking a Protoss opponent being as he is more proficient in this match up than the other players on his team. There is no real easy way of defeating Pike, really just comes down to outplaying him, there is no big risk of cheese and he doesn't use outrageous builds, he's a solid standard zerg players.

SneazeL
Race:
Stats: 3-1
SneazeL is one of the players who could play, but I do not expect to see. As far as I know, he hasn't been very active if at all. Active, SneazeL is most proficient in PvT and PvP with his PvZ trailing slightly behind. While he is active, SneazeL is probably the most well rounded and the top player from Poland. However, this doesn't seem to be the case and if he is indeed inactive, I don't see how he would be able to pull a win against players who are specifically practicing for this one nation war. While SneazeL is a very strong replacement player while inactive, he is not a top line player and as I stated in the Semi-Final thread, it shows the depth of the Polish team to have too many top tier players and the inability to fit them all in a lineup.

Track Reccord

Regular Season
Stats: 5-1
+ Show Spoiler [Detailed] +

Playoffs
Stats: 3-0
+ Show Spoiler [Detailed] +


The United States are currently undefeated in the Altitude Nation Wars, in general, their matches have been slightly easier than Poland's Opposition, however, having won 4 Nation Wars against Semi-Finalist teams is no easy feat. So it's really difficult to say how much harder of a progression Poland had. Though, we can't take away from the team's dedication nor their leadership for getting them this far.

Top Players
Michael
Race:
Stats: 6-1
Michael is the absolute best the United States have, the team rests on his shoulders, the team cannot win if Michael loses. This is a difficult feat for Michael being as 3 of the 5 players who will be playing for Poland are vZ specialists. So, Michael is going to have his biggest challenge yet this week. Though, Michael cannot do it alone this time, being as Poland has a 2v2 lineup(arguably the best in the world) and has a full line up of 5 players, he will also need his team's support this time. I have no doubt that Michael is fully capable of winning his games being as he has shown he can play under pressure, being 1 loss away from having the United States eliminated from the competition, beating Pro7ect, cvcvbvbv and The.WK. Michael is a monster and he can only hope that his team will be able to provide him with the two wins he needs to take the ace match. Now, Michael is a very cheesy player, he loves his cheese and it's actually quite good for him because, while he is an expert at these cheesy plays, he's also one of the best standard players in the foreign scene. So people can't commit to anything, if you play a 2v2 player, you can recognize they'll probably cheese and overcompensate a little bit because they won't be able to follow up. If you're playing Michael, you can't overcompensate on defense because he'll destroy you in the long game and if you cut corners because you fear his late game, he'll destroy you with a hydra bust. There's just no real good way to go about stopping Michael. And as I was talking about above, he is the only reason the United States is still in the competition and he'll be the reason if they win it (No pressure).

Game
Race:
Stats: 7-1
Game has played remarkably well in the Altitude Nation Wars, winning all of his sets up to the quarter finals, beating players such as Must and CaStrO even taking a set off the beast that is The.WK. Now, he only needs to take one more set and the United States will really be looking at him to do so. Though as I understand it, Game was recently injured and so, he may not be in full shape for this NW, and if this is the case it'll really be quite bad for the United States because they need him more than they ever have. Game would probably want to be matched up against Choosy, SouthPark or Mazur. These opponents would probably be best for Game and I would guess that he could beat anyone one of these while in shape, however, none of them are a guarantee. There is no telling what shape he'll be in this Saturday and so it is difficult to make a prediction.

Jumper
Race:
Stats: 5-2
Jumper has been playing great as of late, unfortunately he wasn't tested in the Semi-Final match like he was in the Quarter Finals. It would have been nice to see how he would have done against some of the top Chinese players, however, that's behind us and fact is, Jumper is a total beast, being one of the top players on team USA and being an alternative ace for Michael in Gt. He specializes in PvT, however this is a bit unfortunate for him because there aren't any Terran players on team Poland that will be playing 1v1. So he'll probably end up with a PvZ, which is definitely preferred over PvP, being as his PvP is definitely below par. I would be expecting Jumper to want a pair up against either SouthPark or TrutaCz, being as I haven't really witnessed many PvZ games from Jumper, it's really quite hard to judge what kind of play style would counter him. Jumper's fate will inevitably be determined by his match up because I don't think he will be able to win a PvP nor is he of the same skill as Pike to be honest. He could have a good chance against SouthPark, TrutaCz and Choosy though, since their standard games aren't the strongest.

fLIp
Race:
Stats: 2-1
fLIp is basically one of the less consistant players in foreign tournament play. He's one of the guys where you can say "I know this guy is good, but I rarely have seen impressive games from him". This needs to change and the United States is really going to need a win from him, he's been active on ladder, however missed his semi-final match and that poses another problem, it's not only that he's inconsistent with his skill level, but also, he doesn't consistently show up which is best illustrated with his stats. fLIp showed for 2 NWs this season and there is no telling whether he will show or not this time. I think he would fair well in a ZvZ but, lets face it most of the Zergs on Poland are ZvZ masters and so, it doesn't really make sense that he would want one of these players aside from maybe Pike whom is better in ZvP. In the end, fLIp is really a loose cannon, there's no telling if he'll be there or if he'll be ready to win.

Semih
Race:
Stats: 2-1 // 1-2
Either Semih or LuMiX will be playing the 2v2 along side with Game, from the looks of it, there is a good possibility that Semih will be in the lineup on Saturday, however, for this to be true, he first has to show up. which like fLIp, Semih hasn't been the most reliable player ever. Now, with that being said, if he does show, I'm not exactly sure who he'd be better matched against because he has been inactive in the foreign scene for a good chunk of time and has played a minor amount of non-ladder games since his return. With that being said, if he can, the United States will be looking at having him snipe Mazur, if not, then they'll probably be trying to match him up against one of the less Macro oriented Zergs.

Modesty
Race:
Stats: 3-4
Modesty has performed decently for team USA, he's not had particularly good results, but they haven't been terrible either. He has played his part for them as far as reliability, so I expect him to show up on Saturday, but he's not expected to play. I think they'll have a 5 man lineup which is superior skill to Modesty, though by no means is he a bad backup player. And given the consistency of some of the other players showing, there is a decent chance that he'll be forced into the line up.

Track Record

Regular Season
Stats: 6-0
+ Show Spoiler [Detailed] +

Playoffs
Stats: 3-0
+ Show Spoiler [Detailed] +


+ Show Spoiler [ Prediction] +