EPTTable of Contents
Group A, Day Three
Intro
Liquid vs ZeNEX
Recap
SlayerS-EG vs ZeNEX
Preview
Check out the GSTL on Liquipedia
New Lease On Life
One team's misfortune is another team's blessing. Liquid fell to ZeNEX in their GSTL debut, suffering a painful 1 - 5 all-kill. They will have their work cut out for them in their upcoming elimination match, where they go up against NS HoSeo. Meanwhile, ZeNEX not only won the match, but saw long time prospect ZeNEXLife finally break out with a stellar in-studio performance. If Life can keep performing at that level, ZeNEX will graduate from being a free-win, to being a very dangerous team in the GSTL.
We'll see if ZeNEX and Life can keep up their good performance tonight, as they go against SlayerS-EG in the winners match. The winner will move on to the next round of the GSTL, while the loser will await the victor of Team Liquid vs NSH in the final match of the group.
GSTL kicks off tonight at 09:10 GMT (+00:00).
*Our apologies for the outdated news-post graphics. They will be updated in the near future.
Recap: Liquid vs ZeNEX
ZeNEX's Life welcomes Liquid to the GSTL with an all-kill (ZeNEX 5 - 1 Liquid)
Match results from Live Report Thread by SeeKeR.
+ Show Spoiler [Results] +
In some ways, it was an inevitable result. Known for his impressive skill when playing online, the sixteen year old ZeNEXLife was expected to finally break out in the GSL studio at some point in his career. Unfortunately for Team Liquid, he picked the day of their GSTL debut, scoring an all-kill against the hopeful foreign team. TaeJa's absence due to his participation at Red Bull Battlegrounds was painfully felt, as his skillful TvZ and 9 - 1 record against Life might have saved the day.
Life came out as the second runner for his team, switching in for Avenge after he surrendered the first set to Liquid's Zenio. After Life took down Zenio, Liquid opted to deploy HerO sooner than later, before Life could build up any more momentum. However, Life looked more than equal to the Code S semi-finalist, and won with formidable macro on Entombed Valley. After that, Life hardly had to break a sweat. Jinro, Haypro, and TLO fell in order, with none of them able to put up much of a fight against the rampaging Life.
ZeNEX moves on to face SlayerS-EG tomorrow in the winners' match of group A, with the winner progressing to the second round of the GSTL. In Liquid's case, they go up against New Star HoSeo in the losers' match, where the defeated team will suffer elimination from the GSTL.
Match Recap
The series opened with
Liquid`Zenio vs 
ZeNEXAvenge on Cloud Kingdom. It was a scrappy game that followed a fairly standard PvZ pattern, with Avenge going up to three bases while Zenio took his fourth base and made his way up to hive. Zenio's lair stage army couldn't handle Avenge's force, and he was battered left and right to the verge of defeat. However, Avenge made a crucial mistake by allowing Zenio to hold on to a 'hidden' base that could have easily been killed, and Zenio managed to just barely put together a brood lord force that forced the GG from Avenge.ZeNEXLife was then sent forth to take out Zenio as a ZvZ sniper – an unusual role until you looked at Life's 10 – 1 ZvZ record in 2012. Their game played out normally on Daybreak, with both players trying to get on each others nerves with harassment while going up to three bases a piece. A well timed, mid-size roach attack earned Life ZvZ win number eleven on the year, hitting just before Zenio started pumping out mass roaches to support his infestors.Liquid chose to play their ace card earlier than later, putting
Liquid`HerO in an optimal situation to defeat Life on Entombed Valley. Anticipating HerO to go for a long game on the map, Life opened up with a very greedy, three hatch before pool build, one that ended up paying off. Life went up to four bases and hive very quickly, putting him in a great position to take on whatever HerO would make from three bases.HerO looked like he was in trouble once Life put together a well supported brood lord force, but he used his excellent combat micro to destroy Life's first force with stalkers and templars. However, right on the heels of that victory, HerO ran head-on into defeat. His stalkers chased the fleeing Zerg army onto creep, even blinking ahead to catch up. They ended up materializing right in the middle of a huge swarm of reinforcing lings, resulting in the complete annihilation of HerO's army. With his core broken, HerO had no chance of defending against the continued waves of Zerg troops being sent his way, and he GG'd out.
Liquid`Jinro was next up for Liquid, making his first GSL appearance since July of 2011. Unfortunately for Jinro, it was not the return he wanted. Expecting Life to play a more standard game, Jinro went for a typical reactor-hellion triple orbital build, while Life was doing something else entirely. He went for the rarely seen ZvT mutalisk rush, a build that ended up working out because of its sheer unlikeliness. A fast muta-ling attack was enough to beat Jinro outright, forcing Liquid to bring out Liquid`HayprO as their fourth player.The player known as 'The Banjo' once defeated Nestea at an MLG event, but there would be no such upset for him in Korea. After similar starts where both players opened with two base mutalisks, Life struck with a deadly muta-roach-infestor-hydralisk timing that completely overwhelmed HayprO.
It was all up to
Liquid`TLO to pull off a miracle as the final player remaining, but he ended up becoming kill #5 for Life instead. TLO played Life evenly for a decent portion of the game, fending off an early zergling attack and safely moving into the mid-game. However, TLO ended up suffering a similar loss as Zenio and HayprO, with Life finding just the right time to attack before his opponent was ready. Life's well upgraded roaches were able to break through TLO's defenses before infestors were out, and TLO surrendered the final GG to Life.Player of the match:
ZeNEXLifeLife has been known for his considerable talent at a young age for quite a while now. Right up to the Liquid match, he was also known for being unable to adjust to the pressure of playing at the Mokdong studio, and had disappointed in his limited outings in the GSL.
It would be absolutely huge for ZeNEX if this all-kill finally gets Life over that hump, as it would give them the reliable multi-kill card they've always needed. A confident Life would be akin to a Zerg version of what TaeJa was for SlayerS in the past: a very talented young player who can destroy entire teams when he gets going.
Game of the night: Game One – Zenio vs Avenge
Life had to work a little against HerO, but overall he was hardly troubled in his all-kill of Liquid. Instead, watch Zenio vs Avenge, a rather sloppy, but entertainingly scrappy game. Avenge had Zenio on the ropes for long portions of the game, but Zenio managed to barely hold on to come back using brood lords.
SlayerS-EG
ZeNEX
Where They Stand
For SlayerS-EG, not much has changed from two days ago. Go read our earlier preview, you'll find that pretty much everything about SlayerS is still valid. Their 5 – 3 victory over New Star HoSeo didn't give us much new information, and it mostly just reconfirmed the fact that Puzzle is a very strong player in standard games. We already know that at positions two through five, SlayerS-EG has a wealth of solid players to deploy. What we still need to see is their number one, their ace MMA, to know if they can make a serious run at the championship.
In a strange turn of events, ZeNEX might become the first team to draw him out. Before last night's games, it was hard to think that MMA would be needed to defeat ZeNEX, and it seemed certain that any combination of four SlayerS-EG players would certainly take out ZeNEX's motley crew beforehand. However, with Life finally 'exploding his potential' (as the Koreans call it), ZeNEX has suddenly become a far more dangerous team. The #1 player on the ladder and one of the best online cup players in the business, there's no knowing what Life could do after his all-kill on Liquid. Amusingly, the cost of learning that Life can get it done in-studio was being unable to see the other ZeNEX prospect, Extreme in action. There might be more surprises from ZeNEX yet.
Players of Interest
SlayerS-EG:
Crank, JYP, Zerg playersBecause of SlayerS' continued faith in Crank, it's hard not to be intrigued. His highly entertaining carrier play against NSH's Freaky gave us a glimpse of what the SlayerS management sees in him. While he hasn't been particularly great, at least he isn't a waste of a spot like Ganzi was in his early GSTL career (SlayerS continued to play him despite his losses, until he finally found his feet). He probably won't have to perform that well for SlayerS to beat ZeNEX, but it would be nice to see him really justify his continued selection.
There aren't any really notable Terran players on ZeNEX, so I'm hoping JYP has been begging Cella to let him play. He's been an excellent PvZ player for quite some time now, and he seems like an excellent sniper card should ZeNEX deploy Life early in the line-up again. Obviously, MMA is the easiest solution to any Zerg problems ZeNEX could present, but JYP could easily fill-in if SlayerS-EG want to preserve MMA for later.
So, who's going to take care of Avenge and Extreme should they get going? PuMa hasn't looked like his Protoss slaying self in recent months, while Ryung and MMA have never looked that great in that match-up. PvP sniping is a possibility, but players and viewers seem to still be undecided on whether that match-up is a coin-flip or not. How about a Zerg then?
It's hard to tell exactly which Zerg player SlayerS will use, however. There appears to be a rotating door policy in place for their Zerg line-up, which is a bit surprising until you remember that Boxer used to be on SKT during his Brood War days (this in joke will go unexplained).
CoCa has been their most frequently used Zerg in the EGMC, but Min and Miya are finding a decent amount of playing time as well. Oddly enough, YuGiOh is only a bit-part player for SlayerS, even though he's their best performing Zerg in the GSL.ZeNEX:
Life, ExtremeThe key players for ZeNEX against SlayerS-EG are the same two from their match-up against Liquid. Life and Extreme are their biggest prospects, and their ability to play up to their talent will decide how far ZeNEX go in this GSTL.
Life already exploded once against Team Liquid, which should thrill ZeNEX and its fans going forward. His all-kill can't be played down just because three of his five wins were against foreigners in TLO, Jinro, and HayprO. Life's talent isn't in question, only his ability to display it at the Gom studio. With the confidence from his all-kill, it's become much more likely that Life will start playing up to his potential.
A minor casualty of Life's all-kill was Extreme, a player we touted as another big prospect for ZeNEX going into the match against Liquid. Life's rampage forced us to wait another day to check on Extreme's progress. Extreme tore viciously into oGs' Terran line in his last GSTL outing, and he'll find SlayerS' Terrans to be quite a bit softer if he gets a chance to play.
Aces
SlayerS_MMA vs ZeNEXLineAce vs ace is usually a tantalizing possibility for the viewers, but in this case it would end up in a murder. MMA destroyed his old friend Line in their Code A games, and he wasn't even playing that well. He's an interesting problem for ZeNEX to try and solve, as he completely counters their two best players in Line and Life, while he himself is vulnerable to being sniped by Avenge, Extreme, or maybe even Mushroom. All of this means we're unlikely to see the traditional use of aces as anchors/closers in this series, as there's even more match-up chess going on than usual.
Prediction
Life's break out performance was awesome for ZeNEX. It's not guaranteed that he's been magically cured of his broadcast game jitters, but we can guarantee that he'll have plenty of confidence left over from his Liquid all-kill when he's playing less than 24 hours later.
Unfortunately for ZeNEX, it's not going to be enough. With the exception of HerO, every single player for SlayerS-EG is going to be better than those Liquid
SlayerS 5 – 3 ZeNEX
Writer: Waxangel.
Graphics: Pathy.
Editor: Waxangel.
