by Waxangel

Where they Stand

AZUBU: I have no idea what's going on but I guess it works

I have no idea what AZUBU the company is about, and I don't really have a good idea about what their team is about either. There's no rhyme or reason to their player use patterns, you can never tell who will play well for them on a given day, and their only strategy seems to be "use Symbol and randomly pick from the other guys." But can you really complain? It's all working out pretty decently for them. After some bad losses at the start of the season, they've become a team that knows how to cobble together four or five wins through whatever means.

Genius' 4-kill day just adds another layer of bizarreness to AZUBU, on top of making them look like a more dangerous contender. The lack of a solid Protoss option was probably their greatest weakness this season, and an in-form Genius gives them a strong 3-race trio of Symbol, SuperNoVa, and Genius.

LG-IM: So Overrated They're Underrated

Snarkily making fun of the underperforming LG-IM has always been a fun thing to do, but I think it's reached the tipping point where people overexaggerate how bad they are at GSTL. Yes, they are definitely worse than they should be given the collective strength of their roster. But even if they are not the best team in the GSTL, they are still a pretty strong one at that.

So yes, while LG-IM did do their usual GSTL thing and managed to only finish in third despite coming into the season with the strongest roster by far. Let's not let that distract us from the fact that they have one of the strongest rosters in the league. As long as they don't waste entries and just send out all of their top guys in a row, they're still very much in the title chase.

The Rosters

AZUBU's I Dunno's

Genius showed us that he's not dead yet in last night's match, but besides that we didn't learn anything new about AZUBU. Symbol is the one reliable ace card, and the rest of their roster is a bunch of inconsistent players who can get dangerously hot.

You know, that might not be a bad thing. Sure, there's a kind of elegance and beauty to playing a very tactical series with players who you know can get you a win or two a piece, constantly trading games in a back and forth series. We've seen a few of those games in the GSTL so far, and they've resembled chess matches more than StarCraft.

But as important as brilliant tactical moves and well prepared sniping are, it can all be counteracted by one player going on a white hot streak. San, BBoongBBoong, and SuperNova may not be guys who can reliable provide wins in every series, but you only need one of them to get hot to make up for the failures of the others.

LG-IM's Multiple GSL Championships

LG-IM has a roster chock full of strong GSTL players, who possess the two key qualities of being both consistent AND streaky. Their powerful Protoss line fits this bill: YongHwa, First, and Squirtle.

They also have players that aren't really multi-kill threats, but can be relied on to get one or two wins each night: Losira and YoDa.

There's also the rarely used players who have nonetheless showed us limited flashes of brilliance, capable of being wild cards in this match: ByuL and RagnaroK.

With this line-up alone, LG-IM is easily Azubu's equal or even their superior. This line-up alone makes them one of the strongest teams in GSTL and an instant title contender. It has many of the qualities you want in an all-kill format team: streakiness, consistency, depth, and unpredictability.

Unfortunately, being merely 'very strong' is LG-IM's limit when they have the POTENTIAL to be an overwhelming, totally unfair favorite to win the GSTL. What's holding them back from reaching that potential? These guys: Mvp, NesTea, MC.

Now, I'm not putting unrealistic expectations on the GSL champion trio at this point their careers. They are past their primes, and they're not supposed to be all-killing, team destroying menaces anymore. However, what they're supposed to bring is elite sniping, crazy-preparedness, and that clutch factor that saw them have so much individual success. Mvp in particular has shown that his physical limitations mean nothing compared to his mental strength, strategic mind, and ability to perform in the clutch.

However, instead of putting LG-IM over the top, these three guys basically make no difference whether they are played or not. Somehow, their contribution is about at the level of a YoDa and Losira. In fact, if one of them was played over the Protoss core trio of Squirtle, First, or YongHwa, I'd say it was actually hurting LG-IM.

Because they have achieved so much in their individual careers, it's hard for LG-IM not to keep sending them out, thinking 'this will be the time they finally show their individual league form in the GSTL.' But after so many tries and so many failures, coach Kang will have to sit down and think hard about who he wants representing his team when all the chips are down.

Overall Outlook

Both teams have streaky players, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a one-sided score either way. However, the overall strength of LG-IM's roster make me think they have a slight edge. One thing Azubu does have going their way is that LG-IM's new ace First is relatively weak in PvZ compared to his super strong PvT and PvP, which plays into Azubu's hands as they have a strong Zerg line of Symbol, B4, and viOLet. However, the combined strength of LG-IM's players should overcome Azubu unless they get a monster performance out of an unexpected player.

Prediction: LG-IM 5 - 3 Azubu