by Fionn

Code S is back! WCS swallowed up the GSL for a year and spit it back out, leaving it forever changed. Gone are the days of having eight or more GSL finals a year, and we're left with quarterly tournaments with an insanely high proportion of the money going to the champion.

Only time will tell if the 2014 edition of the GSL will be the best or worst yet, but for now, we're just happy it's back. In commemoration we've assembled an immense, massive power ranking of all past GSL finals so that we might remember the history of StarCraft 2's most important tournament. So sit back, grab some food and a beverage of your choice and take a walk down memory lane of the GSL finals.

Now, considering that the GSL was once known for its great regular seasons followed by terrible, god-awful finals, some of the early entries on this list are unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. Especially #23....

*Some VODs are temporarily unavailable while GomTV moves their VODs to their new youtube channel.

23. 2011 Code S May: NesTea vs. InCa

If you haven't had your memory altered Eternal Sunshine style to completely forget about this finals, then you should not be surprised to find it as our first entrant at the very bottom of the GSL finals ladder. Throughout most of 2010 and 2011, the running joke that was almost every GSL final would come in hyped up beyond belief, and it would fail miserably, usually resulting in a 4-1 or 4-0. Most finals, even if a one-sided affair, can still have some redeeming qualities through a strong story, interesting characters, or close games despite a one-sided scoreline. Nestea vs. Inca had none of these qualities and is a series that should only be watched by the most devout Nestea fans.

Inca, who came into the finals with 0-4 all-time record against Zerg, went for the same DT opening in every single game. Nestea, who was 13-3 against Protoss heading into the series, had no trouble detecting Inca's favorite unit and beating him in game after game. The result was one of the most cringe inducing series in Starcraft history. Inca was outmatched from the start and looked to have no answer against the more experienced and talented player. The series wound up as an easy 4-0 for Nestea, making people wonder why they wasted two hours watching that massacre.

Not only was it the worst final of all-time, but it was also possibly the season with the biggest missed final of all-time as well. With Nestea taking down sC in an epic semifinal series, the other spot in the finals came down to Inca versus Nada. Nada, being the heavy favorite, was expected to win and move on to face Nestea in the biggest GSL imaginable. The Brood War legend faltered, lost a lopsided series to Inca, and took away our chance of seeing an epic TvZ final between two of the most popular players on the planet.


22. 2012 Code S Season 3: Seed vs. MC - VOD

Whenever you see a Protoss fan cry that their race is underpowered and that life is unfair, just point to this final and ask, 'Do you really want to see more finals like this?' With Protoss only having won two championships prior to Seed vs. MC, the idea of the first ever PvP final was something new and exciting on paper. PvP, usually the consensus pick for worst match-up, was starting to see more games enter the late game where it became somewhat more entertaining. Seed vs. MC also featured two of the most outspoken, charismatic players going up against each other with with plenty of trash-talk leading into the match.

With a beach stage set up in Busan, GOM had high hopes for a huge crowd to see their Code S final. Sadly, with a PvP final and other factors thrown in, it wasn't the gigantic attendance they would have hoped for. The games themselves were quick and one-sided, Seed proving to be the better player throughout. MC was able to grab a game in the fourth set to bring the match to a 3-1 scoreline, but the composed Seed was able to close it out in five games. With his eyes closed and a relieved look on his face, Seed captured his first championship and became the second Protoss champion in GSL history.

The moral of this story is that a PvP final was something new we gave a shot and instantly decided wasn't for us, like that time Wolf decided to dye his hair jet black. Even with HotS, it remains a match-up few fans are interested in and we're glad we've managed to dodge it ever since.


21. 2011 Code S January: Mvp vs. MarineKing

The first TvT final in GSL history was also its worst TvT final. Mvp was the strong, defensive-minded player with incredible macro, and MarineKing was the aggressive, offensive-minded player with incredible micro. On paper this should have been a great match, a clash of two distinct styles going head to head in the first final of 2011. Mvp was the slight favorite, but both players had strong fan support heading into the final and everything suggested that this was going to be a good one.


Well, it wasn't. MarineKing tried to play a different style than he was used to, not playing his normal bio-centric play and instead tried to go head to head against Mvp at his own game. MarineKing, not knowing what to do to beat Mvp, got rolled over in four straight games and never looked like he had a fighting chance. He betrayed the way he usually played the game, couldn't match up with Mvp's strong defensive style, and was handed his second straight GSL final loss. When the two faced again later, MKP would stay true to his style and give Mvp a much harder challenge.

Only watch this series if you're either a really big Mvp fan or you find great pleasure in watching MarineKing get beat up and cry.


20. 2010 Open Season 3: MC vs. Rain

Looking back at all the GSL seasons from now to the very first one, GSL Open Season 3 is most likely the worst one from top to bottom. Most of the games ended in cheese, MC crushed everyone in his path and made them look bad, and Rain made it to the finals by making everybody mad by cheesing Nestea out of the tournament. Rain got so much hate for his cheese tactics that he had to defend the way he played in interviews. There was the heroic story of Jinro making it to the semifinals before becoming another victim to the MC slaughter, but that was pretty much the only highlight of the season.

Rain was expected to get run over by MC, and fans wanted to see the guy who got there by cheesy tactics get crushed by the unstoppable Protoss force. To be fair to Rain, he actually put up a nice fight in the series, making it a lot closer than a lot of people thought he could. He went down with a 4-1 score as MC claimed the championship, but gained a bit of respect from the community for his valiant effort. This final isn't the worst of all-time, but it is one of the most forgettable in possibly the worst season of GSL. We will remember it for Jinro's semifinal run and MC's complete dominance, but that's about it.


19. 2011 Code S March: MC vs. July

The third and last MC final on this list, this was the one with the most promise. However, it just didn't live up to the massive hype. July was a Brood War legend with a golden mouse in his possession, and it was his first time in a GSL final. MC was considered one of the best players in the world alongside Nestea and Mvp, winning a championship only two seasons before against Rain. It was the first PvZ final in GSL history, and people were expecting to see a great showing between Starcraft 2's best and one of Brood War's best. The crowd was hyped for the entrances, the trash talk, and were pumped up to see if July could be the first Brood War legend to capture a title.


MC embarrassed him. July didn't play his best games, MC was at the peak of his power, and it was the second straight final involving MC that ended in a 4-1 stomping. The fans were left deflated seeing their Brood War hero get beaten up by a player once known as the Suicide Toss. July's championship window in SC2 closed there – even though he stayed around in Code S he was never a title threat again. This was a final with a lot of missed potential, and we will remember it mostly for MC establishing himself as a superpower in the Starcraft 2 world by vanquishing an old Brood War legend.


18. 2011 Code S July: NesTea vs. LosirA

Ah, the season of perfection. This season will always be known as the tournament that Nestea won without dropping a single map. While statistically it was the greatest individual run in GSL history, Nestea didn't have the toughest road. He got a free win over Rain, beat a ZvZ inept July, a Code S survivalist in Ensnare, a ZvZ inept Coca, and then made it to the finals with a 3-0 blowout against the injured and demotivated HongUn. Not the most strenuous journey, but it was still an incredible feat to make the finals without dropping a single game.

Nestea faced his teammate Losira in the finals, giving us our first ever ZvZ final. Maybe not getting the same hatred as the PvP mirror or even the TvT mirror at that time, it still wasn't one of the most highly anticipated match-ups. Many expected the undefeated Nestea to take another easy championship against a player who learned under him, and the biggest question heading into the final was if Nestea could pull off the perfect season. Nestea didn't let his fans down, winning without really breaking a sweat after the first game, keeping his record intact and winning his third title.

While this was one of the biggest blowouts in GSL history, the games were actually pretty fun if you didn't have high expectations, and we got to see Nestea win his third title in perfect fashion. This final isn't one people will be rushing to watch if they aren't Artosis, but it's way better than the very low expectations that were set for a ZvZ final.


17. 2011 Super Tournament: Polt vs. MMA

This was supposed to be the Super Bowl of the GSL. It pitted the 64 best players from Code S and Code A against each other, with the winner to walk out with $100,000. Having the same format as the old open seasons, this was GSL's idea to create the greatest tournament of all-time and have the biggest final in history.

Alas. Throughout the season, big names continued to fall and no-names continued to rise through the ranks. Mvp, Nestea, MC and others dropped out early, with players like TheBest and Line making it all the way to the final eight. Instead of a final that consisted of established stars, the final two players were both newcomers to the spotlight.

MMA was coming into his own as one of the best players in the world, helping Slayers win the GSTL championship and capturing a foreign title at MLG Columbus. His opponent was Polt, seen as MarineKing's Terran sidekick, never really breaking out before the Super Tournament. He was known mostly for his astonishing TvP record of 10-0, but was seen as not much of a threat against the heir to Boxer's throne. Most saw this as a clear cut victory for MMA, a mere formality before his official coronation ceremony.

The finals went in a direction that no one expected. Polt, the TvP specialist, outplayed MMA in every aspect of the finals, making a statement with a 4-0 victory and shocking the world. Taking the $100,000 check and becoming the first and only Super Tournament champion, Polt pulled off the biggest upset in GSL finals history. Using his early game strategies and superior positioning to beat MMA in the early game, the then-Prime Terran became the first player from his team to win a GSL championship.

Both players went on to enjoy success afterward and become top stars in the StarCraft 2 scene, but the Super Tournament was deemed a failure by many. The prize money was too top heavy, the finals didn't pan out like GOM probably hoped, and the tournament was canned after the 2011 season.


16. 2011 Code S August: Mvp vs. TOP

That first game.

This series besides the first game? Terrible. People were starting to get sick of TvT finals, TOP wasn't an established enough star to hype up a final, and Mvp was considered the heavy favorite. The games after the first one were dull and the series ended up like expected, Mvp triumphing over TOP in a one-sided 4-1 series to win his third GSL title. If it wasn't for the first game of this series, this might very well be in the bottom three of all-time and have no rewatch value at all except for the Mvp fanboys in the world.

However, the first game was one of the best of 2011, showing the best of the GOMTvT era. Mvp and TOP played an epic game, hitting each other with everything in the Terran arsenal. Mvp dropped nuke after nuke from the sky, covering the map with explosions. TOP and Mvp were the two best macro Terrans at the time, matching each other in economy and being able to give us one of the best TvT games in history. Mvp would eventually edge out the victory, showing why he was the champion and TOP was just the challenger, but it was a game that should be viewed by anyone who wants to see an incredible match.


The rest of the series might have been a huge letdown after such an epic first game, but the opener to the series was good enough to rank it just below average.

15. 2010 Open Season 1: FruitDealer vs. RainBOw

This final wasn't very good game-wise, but neither was the entirety of the first season. This final is ranked this high because the finals behind it weren't all that great either, and because this was the first GSL finals, setting the stage for the dozens to come.

The story was perfect, the Zerg hero Fruitdealer conquering the imbalanced maps and giving his race hope at a time when no one thought there was a chance a Zerg could win the first GSL season. Rainbow was a good foil to the hero, a popular Terran player who was good enough to be a champion in his own right.

The finals had all the bells and whistles you would expect from the first grand finals. The players were elevated on platforms with smoke machines a plenty, and the casters hyped this up to be one of the biggest matches in e-sports history. The series wasn't very close, but it didn't have to be. People wanted to see FruitDealer beat the odds and become the first champion, and he did just that, winning in five games and giving the perfect ending to a great story.


Neither Rainbow or FruitDealer had much success after the finals, and we look back at the first season as a time when no one really knew what they were doing, but that's what made it so great. A guy who had to sell fruits for a living to help out his family had become the first champion of the biggest SC2 league in the world, and he did it by playing the race that no one thought would be able to win the championship. You don't watch this final to see the highest level of play, but to experience the fairytale ending to a great story that will never be replicated.


14. 2013 WCS Korea/Code S Season 3: soO vs. Dear - VOD

Unfortunately for soO and Dear, their final was one of the least expected of all time and thus one of the least hyped. The entirety of WCS KR Season 3 had been fraught with upsets, with players like Bomber, sOs, DongRaeGu, INnoVation, and Flash all falling out by the time the tournament reached the quarterfinals.

The upsets didn't stop coming as the unheralded Dear knocked out defending champion Maru in the semifinals, while soO took out both PartinG and Soulkey to earn his spot in the finals. Despite the fact that Dear and soO had taken out such formidable opponents, the fans seemed less than convinced about their skill, more willing to see their runs as strokes of good fortune than as a sign of anything lasting.

Given a chance to prove the doubters wrong by delivering an epic finals, soO and Dear only did a decent job. The series was standard PvZ, and inevitably several of the games simply hinged on the question of "did Dear's all-in work or not." Still, there were a few closely contested macro games that were quite entertaining. In the end, Dear took a convincing 4-2 victory over soO, but not one that was all that convincing about his overall ability.

Just a few weeks later, Dear would go on to crush Soulkey 4-0 in the WCS Season 3 Finals, proving that he was the real deal. While that makes us remember the WCS KR Season 3 Finals as the tournament where Dear came into his own, it doesn't stick out as an especially notable final.


13. 2013 Code S Season 1: RorO vs. Symbol - VOD

With Wings of Liberty coming to an end and Heart of the Swarm grabbing everyone's attention with beta tournaments, the last Code S season in Wings of Liberty was also the most overlooked. People were excited at the beginning of the season, thinking that we might get a final consisting of Mvp, Nestea, or MC to end the Wings of Liberty era on a historic note. Mvp and Nestea both fell early, and Stephano, the fan favorite foreigner that everyone tuned in to see, couldn't make it out of the first round. Favorites continued to fall, leaving us with a similar situation to the previous Code S season, where BL-infestor using Zergs toppled their more established peers.

The final ended up being between Symbol, a once red hot Zerg player that cooled off with continuous exits in the quarterfinals, and Roro, a KeSPA player that was a solid A-teamer in Brood War, but not the player fans expected to be the first KeSPA player in a GSL final. With another ZvZ final confirmed, the hype for the finale to the Wings era was at an all-time low. IEM was holding their World Championship at the same time with Heart of the Swarm, the game everyone was excited to see end the BL-infestor era.

Despite there being a ton of apathy in the West, the venue was surprisingly packed back in Korea. The games the two put forth were, while not the greatest games of all-time, still enjoyable and highly entertaining. Roro went up 3-0, taking a close game on the first map, finally overwhelming Symbol with a superior economy and infestor force, and then took the next two games without much trouble.


Symbol fought back, narrowing the gap to 2-3, throwing up manner nydues against his opponent even when down three games in the finals. The tension was high in the sixth map of the final, with everyone wondering if Symbol could take it to a seventh game. Unfortunately for the Azubu player, Roro regained his composure, was able to get the better end of the engagements in the final game, and win the final Wings Code S tournament by a 4-2 score.

No, it wasn't the perfect sendoff to Wings, but Roro and Symbol put on a finals performance that was worth watching.


12. 2011 World Championship: Mvp vs. MarineKing

The second meeting between Mvp and MarineKing was much better than the first, but Mvp was still able to take out MarineKing in another GSL finals. The special World Championship season was a bit of an anomaly in the GSL line of tournaments, being the shortest season with the weakest players (I mean, they seeded a bunch a foreigners...), but it came out with a good finals nonetheless.

This final had some entertaining games, with MarineKing making an epic comeback in the middle of the series to tie it up 2-2 against his rival and give his fans the hope that he could claim his first GSL championship. Unfortunately for MKP and his fans, Mvp didn't let MarineKing overtake him and closed out the series in six games. With a record of 8-2 against MarineKing in finals, Mvp and MarineKing became the only two players to play each other twice in a GSL final. It would also be MarineKing's last GSL final, though he would go on to break his Kong curse at MLG events in 2012.

Some may remember the WC as the most fringe GSL tournament that barely qualifies as a GSL championship, but the finals between MarineKing and Mvp were good enough to headline any major tournament.


11. 2013 Hot6ix Cup: Rain vs. Soulkey - VOD

The Blizzard Cup became the Hot6ix Cup in 2013, but it continued its streak of having an amazing finals card. With Soulkey and Rain – two players who exemplified safe, textbook styles – reaching the grand finals it wasn't hard to see why GSL commentator and macro-game fetishist Artosis was practically salivating heading into the series.

As it turned out, the final was good but not great. The level of play was extremely high as expected, with both players showing off great blind reads, top class micro, and smart decision making. However, as exquisitely played as the games were, they were nothing special in terms of pure entertainment value. One player would take a lead, and then ruthlessly expand that lead without letting his opponent have even a glimmer of hope.

The one exception was Rain's incredible come-from-behind victory in game five, where he recovered from an early zergling rush with an unbelievably successful quadruple attack on all of Soulkey's bases. The comeback was only possible because of a rare lapse in concentration from Soulkey, but that's typically how it is in StarCraft: you can have flawless play or you can back and forth games, but you can't have both.

Overall, it was a final that was much like the two players in it: solid and well played, but without much flair.


10. 2012 Blizzard Cup: Life vs. PartinG - VOD

Breaking up the ZvZ streak that seemed to be cursing every major tournament toward the end of 2012, Parting fought through a gauntlet of Zergs to make it to his first GSL final at the Blizzard Cup. The charismatic Startale player had talked big for the past year, telling everyone he would take the mantle as the Protoss President, and he finally got his chance to prove it in Korea. His opponent and teammate, Life, had won the GSL two seasons before, downing Mvp in the finals and becoming the first royal roader in GSL history.

Parting, coming off wins at the BWC and WCG, was in the best condition of his career, playing some of the most inspired games against Zerg we saw during the BL-infestor era. With his wide variety of all-in and macro strategies, he was a player that always seemed to have an ace up his sleeve against Zerg. In a time when people were looking for a hero to stop Zerg, Parting was the player that had the best chance of taking them out. Life, on the other hand, was an unstoppable prodigy, having taken titles across the globe and already holding a GSL title at the age of fifteen.

The final itself was good, Parting going up 2-0 and taking an early lead over his Zerg teammate. But as expected, Life came back for the umpteenth time in his young career, fighting back with four straight wins to take out PartinG and win his second GSL championship. It became the icing on the cake for Life in a year that he had dominated, even though he had only really started playing well during the summer.

Parting, having to lost to his teammate, would then go on to move from Startale not too long after, joining SKT and becoming a KeSPA player.


9. 2012 Code S Season 1: DongRaeGu vs. Genius

The first thing you remember about this finals is the stage. Kicking off the new year in style, GOM built a special booth layout for the two players to play in, resembling an octagon cage from mixed martial arts. In the finals were the two frenemies DongRaeGu and Genius, having already met once in the first round of the season. Genius was able to upset the heavy favorite DRG in the group stages, making people remember the Protoss of the Open Seasons that was always considered a championship threat.

Genius breezed through the knockout rounds, 3-0'ing both MC and aLive in succession, advancing to his first and only grand finals to date. His teammate at the time, DRG, did not have such an easy time, having to come back from a 0-2 deficit to Gumiho to make it to the finals. Winning three straight and setting up the dream match between the two players who constantly made fun of each other in interviews, we were given one of the most hyped up finals of all-time.

With the servers being overloaded by the amount of people trying to tune in, the first game actually wasn't seen by many people online live. The series had some solid games, Genius being able to surprise the audience once again by gaining a 2-1 advantage over the favored Zerg with strong timing attacks. The timing attacks didn't work forever, however, with DongRaeGu fighting back to take the next three maps in a row to take home his first GSL championship after coming so close a season before against MMA in the 2011 Blizzard Cup finals.

None of the games will standout as a must watch, but the unique stage, the hype surrounding the final, and the ceremonies the two players performed throughout the night, made this a grand final that is worth remembering.



8. 2012 Code S Season 5: Sniper vs. HyuN - VOD

With almost every other major final being a ZvZ, Code S saw its first ZvZ final in over a year in 2012's Season 5, reflecting the changing balance toward the end of Wings of Liberty.

It was also a special tournament for many other reasons. It was the second GSL tournament to travel overseas, with the semifinals and finals played at IPL5 in Las Vegas. That also made it one of the most rushed tournament in Code S history, with the schedule being condensed to meet the date of the live event.

The semifinals featured a rag tag bunch of players that almost no one had picked to get to Vegas. There was Innovation, a KeSPA player that had started his SC2 career with a poor record in Proleague. Ryung, the eternal sidekick to MMA, vital to SlayerS' cause but always overlooked. HyuN, the masterful online player and king of the IPL Fight Club, who always choked when it came to offline events. And finally, Sniper the league breaker, who had knocked out fan favorite after fan favorite.

Hyun and Sniper made it to the finals after victories over Innovation and Ryung respectively, but the audience still wasn't convinced. They were both finalists by making it into the grand final, but the nature of the format and the lack of preparation time made people suspect if these two were truly the best players in the world. Adding on top of all that being it was a ZvZ, a match-up that was starting to become redundant in tournaments, and you had a recipe for disaster if the games weren't good.

Luckily, they were. It might not be remembered as one of the greatest finals of all-time, but it was enjoyable, going to all seven sets. The seventh game was the best of the entire series, both players tip toeing on disaster and fighting back from big disadvantages. With an unmarked base at the bottom right, Sniper was able to get the final one-up on his opponent, riding his momentum to a crushing final battle victory.

On top of that, the crowd in Las Vegas didn't care that it was a ZvZ, or that the players in front of them weren't the biggest stars of the Korean SC2 scene. It was the GSL, the world's greatest tournament, live in the United States. That's what truly mattered to them, and they let everyone know it with their cheers.


Damn, when you look back on it this way, the GSL REALLY hasn't had much luck with finals.

But don't fear, it gets much, much better in Part 2.... (link)

Writers: Fionn.
Contributing Writing: Waxangel.
Graphics: shiroiusagi.
Images: GomTV
Editor: Waxangel.