Once the best Zerg in the world, Lee "Life" Seung Hyun now fights to regain his title as the one true Overlord. Can a triumph in Romania turn things around?

by CosmicSpiral

Streaks are a staple of competitive play. A flurry of wins can come from the simplest factors: a good night’s sleep against a weak bracket, a series of miniscule errors that happen to favor one side, or the payoff of meticulous preparation and hard work. A streak can indicate the beginning of a great career, the discovery of a strategy no one has figured out, or sometimes just pure, dumb luck. Similarly a series of losses can invite all types of dubious speculation. Do Symbol’s recent woes mean he is washed up, or is he struggling to accept the uncertain future of his team? Is Fantasy forever hindered by his love of Brood War, or does he just need more time to adjust? How bad can Parting’s PvZ get before we write him off as a hopeless wreck?

Such questions are rapidly becoming the norm whenever Startale_Life enters a tournament. Six months ago, any trip to Europe would have been regarded as a free trophy to put on his mantle. At that point Life was all but unstoppable, only showing a slight weakness in the mirror matchup that hampered his progress in Code S. It seemed like every month he was winning another major tournament and defying the laws of SC2 in the process. Parting’s Soul Train was impossible for most Zergs to hold until Life brushed it aside in the finals of the Blizzard Cup. In the Iron Squid II finals he completed the first reverse-sweep in an SC2 major falling behind 0 - 3 to DongRaeGu in the first three games of the grand finals. Even the prospect of racial imbalance didn’t bother Life as he slogged through Terran after Terran to win MLG Dallas right after the release of Heart of the Swarm. Top pros like Bomber and Stephano had claimed that TvZ was so blatantly in favor of T that the matchup needed to be fixed; Life showed that muta/ling/bane could answer every problem with near-perfect control and positioning. He and Soulkey looked like the only Zergs who had properly transitioned to HotS while retaining their unmistakable flair. It was only natural to assume the gravy train would keep rolling.

Now, he arrives at DreamHack Bucharest as an unmistakable underdog. After a bitterly disappointing GSL Ro16 appearance and a shocking loss to Sjow at Dreamhack Summer, his scorching run came to a complete halt and has given way to a worrying patchiness. Since the aforementioned loss he has gone 5 - 11 in WCS, GSTL and OSL combined. Seven of those losses were a result of his ZvZ, which has become a liability that invokes dread in his fans whenever he has to play it. In the past he possessed the best ZvZ in the world and knew the match-up so intimately that he was regularly used as a sniper in team leagues; now he flails helplessly to make 10 pool ling/bane all-ins work on four player maps. If it was not for a 10 - 2 run against mid-tier foreigners in Sweden, his win-rate would be sub-50% overall. All of this has resulted in his rude dethroning as the King of Lings. Soulkey now rules the roost in Korea while Jaedong lays waste the West in order to shake off the Kong mantle. Life has even been eclipsed by the likes of old veterans like DongRaegu, KangHo, and Symbol as they have at least kept the form required to stay in the Premier League.

But if Life is in a slump, it’s one of the mildest ones in SC2 history. It’s a testament to our expectations that a slumping player can win an all-star online tournament (the player list alone should qualify the Ritmix RSL as a "major") and have a 56% win-rate after his embarrassment at DH Summer. And while his ZvZ is what the British would call “bollocks”, there’s no worry about his other matchups…yet. His ZvT and ZvP remain fairly robust at 69% and 73% win-rates respectively. Even after Dreamhack the small number of games reflects some measure of continuity: he is 6 - 3 in ZvT series and 14 - 8 in sets while 4 - 2 in ZvP series and 7 - 4 in sets. The biggest anomaly during this time was an odd 0 - 2 loss to Samsung_eMotion in the IEM KR Qualifier, a slightly forgivable offense considering eMotion reached the finals of his bracket by beating other notable players like Yoda and Classic. Overall, Life could be doing better but that is quite different from a long period of poor play.

The crux of Life’s success has always been uncanny decision making at times when other players would be unable to think clearly. His mechanics and strategy were clearly excellent but there were many points where he was evenly matched or outdone during a significant portion of a series: Mvp at the Code S Finals, Leenock at MLG Raleigh, DRG at Iron Squid II, PartinG at the Blizzard Cup. Those who remember the aforementioned finals will notice another trend. With the exception of his last championship at MLG Dallas against Flash, Life has always won tournaments while behind against the best competition in the world. For a newcomer to the top level he was remarkable nonplussed when defeat loomed. Rather than panicking at the prospect of defeat, he elected to make goofy faces or look like he was watching a bad Lifetime movie. Not only was Life able to maintain composure in such stressful situations, he also elected to take insane risks when he felt they were appropriate. How many players would gamble their hopes on a 10 pool or a backdoor attack when the enemy was knocking at the doorstep? Like Leenock, Life knew how to exploit tactics to take advantage of the slightest mistakes and never hesitated when the opportunity was clear.


So it’s now very weird to see Life regularly squandering advantages in games that he should have won. Going 2 - 2 in the most recent Up-and-Downs and failing to make it to Code S was heartbreaking to Life's fans, but the nature of the losses made it an even more bitter pill to swallow. Against soO, Life never had an overwhelming advantage, but had the opportunity to take an economic lead with a 3rd base after holding against a massive roach push. Instead he barely droned, allowed soO to get his own third up and running, and made a dubious transition into infestors that proved too little to hold the next push. The same theme occurred again against Byun. After holding a proxy reaper rush with almost no drone losses, Life failed to re-position his spine crawler correctly and lost a critical amount of workers to the next and final wave of attackers. His losses largely follow the same script: get a lead, hesitate to make the correct decision, proceed to lose the game.

In comparison, Life's ZvZ is different in that he will often throw the game without even ever getting ahead. Life was never fond of the mirror matchup in HotS and his lack of enjoyment seems to have developed into an active dislike. More than once he has tried and failed to end the game early with a 10 ling/bane all-in, a move that seems typical until you realize that he almost never attempted all-ins throughout his career. Besides 2 base nydus in ZvP during the summer of 2012, Life focused on aggressive builds that were disruptive yet could serve as the prelude to a regular macro game. His 10 pool opener in ZvT was terrifying because even if it failed he could recover and take the game anyway; the same applied to his ZvT speedling timing as well as his ZvZ 3 base roach roach timing with +1 attack. His reluctance to switch tech when he has the economic advantage has also be a setback when the opponent takes a risk and does it himself. If it was not for that stubbornness Life would have beaten hyvaa in Challenger League and gotten back into Premier League for this season.

There is a chance, a very small one, that Life will be kissing his sixth trophy at the end of the weekend. Even with all the issues I listed he is good enough to reach the Round of 8 with a favorable bracket. His greatest problem at Dreamhack will be the parade of zergs waiting to greet him. Any of them could be the end of his journey and there is strong reason to believe several will be extra motivated. Jaedong is looking for any occasion to throw off the Kong mantle. After dropping out of WCS Korea so quickly, this is a do-or-die chance for Symbol to get into Blizzcon. Hyun would be very glad to be a two-time Dreamhack champion, and Nerchio would be equally happy to steal that honor for himself. Beyond the obvious lie additional dangers for Life. Flash and sOs are certain to make deep runs and be potential obstacles later on. Taeja may have enough summer left in him for one more great performance. MMA’s resurgence may be the predecessor to winning his first event in what seems like an eternity. Life's own underrated teammate Avenge is an intriguing wild card that could soar or crash in his first international tournament. Dayshi, Snute, Grubby and the rest of the European contingent will certainly be eager to defend their turf. And of course, no words are needed for Innovation.

Bucharest will test whether Life can recapture the old magic that allowed him to enthrall audiences and bewilder his opponents. Right now most of the ingredients are still there and he should be able to advance out of the second group stage purely through skill. However he cannot rely on it alone once he faces the competition that waits at the end of the road. The best players at Dreamhack are not striplings who will choke at the thought of facing him and they will certainly punish for every foolish reaction and misplaced unit. Now that he is so well versed in the arts of failure, Life should know that there is no point in trying to avoid a matchup or waver when the game is firmly in his control. His decisiveness was what made him a champion and what will make him a champion again. If Life recognizes this and shakes off that cloud of doubt, things will get quite interesting again.

Writers: CosmicSpiral.
Editor: Waxangel.