In '10 Great SC2 Finals That Could Have Been' I suggest 10 finals match-ups, for tournaments which have already taken place, which were both plausible at the time and would likely have yielded better finals in terms of hype, storylines and actual play.
A few of the imaginary finals I suggested: *Clash of the GSL Champions - Mvp vs. MC (2011 GSL World Championship) *A ZvT Test for the Emergent Foreign Master - Stephano vs. MMA (IPL3) *The fourth final, a chance for revenge - DongRaeGu vs. MarineKing (2012 MLG Spring Championship) *The Fight to Be the King of Korean Protoss - PartinG vs. Rain (2012 Blizzard World Championship)
On the potential 'Clash of the GSL Champions' in the 2011 GSL World Championship:
It was not to be though, Mvp handled his side of things against San in the first semi-final, but MC fell 2:3 to MarineKing in the other. MC had famously eliminated MarineKing 3:1 in the quarter-final of GSL Open Season 2, en route to his first GSL title. Up 2:0 in this series MC saw it all slip away, MarineKing winning three maps in a row to take the series. It was the first Best-of-5 series loss of MC's career and more importantly the first GSL final tease that was not to be.
Despite appearing in a combined 12 GSL finals, out of a total of 19 held so far, the trio of Mvp, NesTea and MC, the championship faces of the league and the only players to reach three or more finals each, never once faced each other in a GSL final.
What could have been 'The Battle for Optimus':
What this tournament could have been though is MarineKing's best chance at a GSL title. Going into his semi-final against MMA the Prime Terran had reason to believe he was the favourite in many regards. MarineKing had previously beaten MMA in an up/down match in GSL May. Experience-wise the edge lay heavily towards MKP, as he was playing in the fifth GSL Bo5 of his career, in comparison to MMA playing in the second Bo5 of his entire SC2 career, across all tournaments.
The never-to-be fourth MLG final for MKP and DRG:
The second MLG saw DRG lose only to MKP, in the upper final and the grand final. At the MLG Spring Arena 1 DRG had overcome the obstacle in his way, edging MKP out 4:3 in the final, the third they had played consecutively. So at the MLG Spring Championship, when the tournament reached the upper bracket final and saw DRG facing off against MKP everyone knew the very recent history that dwelled between the two. With DRG finally overcoming MKP in the upper bracket he had a finals spot locked up, where once could be forgiven for expecting to see him face MKP for a fourth time, this time with the upper bracket advantage. At last he would have a very public opportunity to avenge his previous two losses to the Prime Terran, tying them up 2-2 in finals.
I just did a quick glance through (like scrolled through images mostly) one thing that always frustrates me is when people count up on these things (1.2.3.4.5.6...) instead of (10.9.8.7.6.5...) because I scroll down and start at #1 where I feel like #1 should be the last and most anticipated I see even if it's not placed in any particular "best to worst" it feels like it is
It was nice though, I'll read a bit into past #3 (I really wish Nestea vs Nada happened... sadface)) but yeah, good work.
On February 05 2013 04:59 Hitch-22 wrote: I just did a quick glance through (like scrolled through images mostly) one thing that always frustrates me is when people count up on these things (1.2.3.4.5.6...) instead of (10.9.8.7.6.5...) because I scroll down and start at #1 where I feel like #1 should be the last and most anticipated I see.
It was nice though, I'll read a bit into past #3 (I really wish Nestea vs Nada happened... sadface)) but yeah, good work.
These are arranged in chronological order, it's not a 'Top 10' in that sense.
Cool stuff, don't agree on everything, but I can remember back than I was devastated, specially about Inca instead of Nada, still don't know how Inca beat him, he was good back than, never watched the series (was out at the time) and never will, I mean Nada vs Nestea, amazing.
On February 05 2013 04:59 Hitch-22 wrote: I just did a quick glance through (like scrolled through images mostly) one thing that always frustrates me is when people count up on these things (1.2.3.4.5.6...) instead of (10.9.8.7.6.5...) because I scroll down and start at #1 where I feel like #1 should be the last and most anticipated I see.
It was nice though, I'll read a bit into past #3 (I really wish Nestea vs Nada happened... sadface)) but yeah, good work.
These are arranged in chronological order, it's not a 'Top 10' in that sense.
Ahh, that would make sense, I wish it was stated somewhere because I was kinda frustrated reading them but yeah it's a bit more obvious now hahaha
On February 05 2013 04:59 Hitch-22 wrote: I just did a quick glance through (like scrolled through images mostly) one thing that always frustrates me is when people count up on these things (1.2.3.4.5.6...) instead of (10.9.8.7.6.5...) because I scroll down and start at #1 where I feel like #1 should be the last and most anticipated I see.
It was nice though, I'll read a bit into past #3 (I really wish Nestea vs Nada happened... sadface)) but yeah, good work.
These are arranged in chronological order, it's not a 'Top 10' in that sense.
Would love if you in the future started from 10 and down to 1 anyhow, it feels like I am cheated when it starts at #1 :p
On February 05 2013 04:59 Hitch-22 wrote: I just did a quick glance through (like scrolled through images mostly) one thing that always frustrates me is when people count up on these things (1.2.3.4.5.6...) instead of (10.9.8.7.6.5...) because I scroll down and start at #1 where I feel like #1 should be the last and most anticipated I see.
It was nice though, I'll read a bit into past #3 (I really wish Nestea vs Nada happened... sadface)) but yeah, good work.
These are arranged in chronological order, it's not a 'Top 10' in that sense.
Ahh, that would make sense, I wish it was stated somewhere because I was kinda frustrated reading them but yeah it's a bit more obvious now hahaha
"The never-to-be third MLG final for MKP and DRG:"
That would have been the fourth MLG final between them. MLG winter arena, MLG winter, MLG spring arena #1 and then MLG Spring championships would have been 4.
Here's one that could be on the list: Boxer vs Foxer (MKP) was a potential gsl open season 2 final. I mean, instead we got Nestea, which was a different brand of awesome, and no-one is really complaining about that final, but I think hype wise that would have been pretty freaking big at that time.
On February 05 2013 06:56 TommyP wrote: "The never-to-be third MLG final for MKP and DRG:"
That would have been the fourth MLG final between them. MLG winter arena, MLG winter, MLG spring arena #1 and then MLG Spring championships would have been 4.
On February 05 2013 07:19 bittman wrote: Here's one that could be on the list: Boxer vs Foxer (MKP) was a potential gsl open season 2 final. I mean, instead we got Nestea, which was a different brand of awesome, and no-one is really complaining about that final, but I think hype wise that would have been pretty freaking big at that time.
Maybe just cos it was boxer.
Yeah, I remember all the jokes when it was potentially going to be Boxer vs (Fake) Boxer.
Some of these I agree with, while others ended up producing good games regardless of who's actually there. The one that sticks out the most to me was Inca vs Nestea though. Nestea vs SCfou was the finals for me that season.
On February 05 2013 08:46 Bodzilla wrote: we could of had byun vs DRG at Busan. except MC and seed managed to win giving us the most underwhelming GSL finals of all time.
To be fair, MC and DRG would have had equal prestige for the event. DRG only a bit more because of the hometown story, but the return of the president was a thing too.
Byun and Seed were exactly in opposite camp. Both had some hype, Byun did look good but Seed also had some great games leading up to that.
So honestly the issue wasn't the players that made it, but the races. Any combination that wasn't PvP could be seen as better, because PvP finals suck. There is no exception.
EPT
Mvp vs. 
MC (2011 GSL World Championship)
Stephano vs. 
