EPT![[image loading]](http://www.enizr.com/media/15421/samsung-crown.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1D5UToe.jpg)
There are many reasons as to why Samsung Galaxy KHAN is going to win Proleague. One of them includes doing what CJ Entus could not, managing to improve core player skills and add the new blood without losing the results. In the off-season, their newer and younger players rose to prominence while their old maintained their skills. While JangBi may have left the team, KHAN is stronger than ever.
What makes KHAN's line-up so strong is the variety of styles among its players - a variety no team can match. Furthermore, it is important to point out that
eMotion, Trend, Kop, 
Solar and Armani were the ones who prepared for SPL not only by playing on ladder with team mates but by taking part in almost every possible online event to reduce the tournament pressure they face while playing. It has paid off for them, as each of them has won at least one online cup.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GlHHHI7.jpg)
The KHAN zerg line-up might not look like the most powerful one in Korea in comparison to giants like SKT, but unlike SKT where
Soulkey and soO - despite their skill - are players with predictable styles, KHAN has 3 absolutely different play styles from Solar, RorO and Shine.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XwVJ6Ea.jpg)
When I watched WCS Korea 2012 I was stunned by
RorO's playstyle, it was 2nd time (after the one and only Life) I fall in love with just the way the player plays. RorO is the one who, more than anyone, never ceases his army movements. He just sends it right and left, right and left and his opponents start to fall apart bit by bit. In TvZ it's potent ling runbys, in ZvZ his roaches roaches burrows everywhere, in ZvP lings and roaches attack the opponent from all directions. After winning the GSL and after the transition RorO started, to change his style from the favoured guerilla style to the standard turtle style which, unfortunately, doesn't reward his multitasking nearly as well as his traditional style. RorO wins first and foremost with mechanics and guerilla tactics, not with timings or greedy macro. I was always hoping that he would play "at the edge", utilising nonstop harassment while taking more bases - and now, it seems that he has returned and I hope that he will not change his style but will adapt with his style instead. His loss vs Dear, to me, was a clear sign that he could not adapt his guerilla tactics to new strategies which made him struggle a lot. But, according to his recent SPL results, now is a wholly different story.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/nmAZApf.jpg)
Shine can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. He and hyvaa are the craziest Korean zergs ever. What I liked the most in the past month was the funny situation in KHAN vs SKT match where soO allinned Solar, only for Soulkey to lose to Shine's all-in in the next game. He moved his team to the 2nd place, whereas if if he lost KHAN would not take 2nd place. Now, If I was KHAN coach I would always send Shine as a starter because you will never know what to expect. Ever. He can all-in everyone he can go for greedy builds or deploy the sauron zerg or he can use his brother RorO's guerilla tactics. Playing against Shine is risky and difficult. But, most importantly, I hope his grandmother will come to root for KHAN because the last thing Shine will want to do to disappoint his lovely grandmother.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zfEziq6.jpg)
Swarm hosts and guerilla roaches
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Want 2nd place? All-in!!
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GIzPUu5.jpg)
I was scared as hell when I saw that
Solar's first game would be against Stephano. I was scared that my fav team's young star would suffocate under the pressure of potentially losing to a foreigner, the biggest shame in Proleague. But Solar won it without a single moment of panic or nervousness or anything like that. Solar is the one who is young but does not feel pressure, is confident in himself and is not afraid of anyone. However, Solar is VERY unlucky. Second only to HyuN, he is the best online zerg. He has won about 7 online events, qualified for Numericable M-House Cup but in offline events he will always get the players who are the favorites of the event.1) When Solar qualified for the GSL for the first time first time he got Flash.
2) The second time, he got FanTaSy.
3) When he played Proleague 2013 he either got INnoVation or ZvZ snipers like Crazy and Soulkey.
4) When he tried to qualify for IEM he had to face JangBi, herO, INnoVation, DRG and HyuN or in other IEM Life in the 1st round.
5) Recent ASUS group: Life, JD, HerO.
6) Recent GSL group: DRG, Rain, herO.
But despite all these things Solar manages to stay confident and keeps growing with every event he participates in. His online wins and especially the Numericable M-House Cup boosted his motivation to another level entirely. Now he is recognisable player with an aggressive playstyle and skill enough to win against just about anyone. I can not even say that he has troubles in ZvZ - he lost to Life and Jaedong and an in-form soO. Nor can I say that he has struggles with ZvP just because he lost to Rain; his Proleague and ASUS results show that he can crush any other Toss. All Solar needs is to shape his gameplay a little bit more and get a tad more bracket luck - he has skills to make Top 4 at GSL or any other event he just needs to overcome this troubling stage. There are a lot of players who had or have such a stage that they could not overcome, but Solar's attitude and motivation and happiness after games make him the one who has more then others to overcome this stage. Solar reminds me of Life and herO - two players whose attitudes and skills made them championship winners, whereas players like Hurricane still struggle.
As for Proleague, Solar is risky as the last player so I would put him 3rd or 2nd and would watch how he destroy poor guys who dare to face him. Personally, I would like to see Solar crushing Rain to make sure he remembers who the boss is here.
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dn9fbaH.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dgVpL8s.jpg)
KHAN has 3 very strong and unique zergs, which is why it is tough for
Armani to get fielded. Solar said in his interview that we should watch out for this guy as he is very good. I assure you, it is true. He was having troubles with online events but last month he won ZOTAC December, signaling that he has overcome those issues. Right now, I think Armani needs more time, we may not see him in Playoffs but in Round 2 he will get at least 1 or 2 opportunities for sure. For now, all he needs is to stabilize his online results and try to pick off a couple of big names in online prelims. ZOTAC December was a very good start, all he needs is to boost this result into winning big names as he has already proven that he is capable of.Armani's signature event
Zotac Monthly Cup Finals, December
Unlike the zerg line, KHAN's protoss line-up has little star power. But even so, the sheer potential and unpredictability from KHAN's protoss line is another mystery for opponents. While you can expect some level of results from the zergs, nobody can say how KHAN protosses will play on any given day.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ua6t39c.jpg)
Stork trains very hard but is still unstable. He showed that he can beat herO in PvP and broke his losing streak in SPL. He was 1 step behind Code S but it is herO and his godlike PvP whom he lost to, even though Stork won 1st match (which would have meant a win in Proleague!). Also it seems according to recent results that he has no problems with zergs. Overall PvT is his best match up but he played only 1 game this year which makes analysis difficult.The most important thing is that Stork still likes the game a lot and he was showing different strategies in his stream. He seems to like Air Toss strategies a lot, but his problem is that he feels like a newcomer and tries to win with standard BOs. We need to wait until he will return his winning mindset and will use strategies like this:
http://www.twitch.tv/sc2proleague/b/381207461 PvZ Air Toss
http://www.twitch.tv/sc2proleague/c/2090104 PvT Carriers
Trend and eMotion are online regulars who won couple of cups before SPL began. Trend notably beat Parting and made one step to become a SPL regular while eMotion was send 3 times. While he lost to Mvp Flash, this is hardly a shame for a newcomer. Instead, he proved that his PvP is truly his best match-up by beating Terminator.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jvX70YG.jpg)
eMotion' signature event:
http://aligulac.com/results/events/20972-ZOTAC-Cup-North-America-/#125
http://aligulac.com/results/events/22264-MSI-Saturday-Showdown-Series-/#6
Why you should be scared of eMotion:
1) PvP 73%
2) During different IEM qualifiers he crushed 2-0 guys like Life, Stats, Classic and Seed
eMotion has problems with PvT he loses too much PvTs but his PvP record is astonishing I will not wonder if KHAN sends him as a PvP sniper.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/41pXvvT.jpg)
Why you should be scared of Trend:
http://aligulac.com/results/events/21381-ZOTAC-Cup-Europe-/#183
http://aligulac.com/results/events/19082-ZOTAC-Cup-North-America-/#118
Trend's reason to scare:
1) PvT 71%
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After his win over PartinG I am confident that Trend, unlike eMotion, got confidence by defeating one the best SPL players in Round 1. I expect him to come more in Round 2, while I think that eMotion is more safe to send vs P. If all goes as planned, Trend will not be sent out vs P unless we get Jin Air or KT I will not be surprised to see Trend as a sniper vs Cure or Flash (as for Maru and TY, it would be better to send RorO and Solar).
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/8pr9snb.jpg)
Kop is among the rare few who switched races with some success. When he was terran, he was, unlike TurN, a very stylistic player - one who tried to use unorthodox strategies with varied amounts of success. I will always remember his stylish mech push vs Oz. Right now, I'm hoping he practices to become a second Classic, who after switching races almost instantly became a championship caliber player. Classic showed that many BW terrans fit better as protoss - I think Kop can build on that.+ Show Spoiler +
Kop' signature event:
http://aligulac.com/results/events/22107-go4sc2-Cup-Europe-/#324
KHAN has 2 terrans;
Reality and TurN. I can say only one thing one of them - they can win and lose to anyone while the other can rush or lose to anyone. This is just another problem you have to face when you prepare for Samsung KHAN. Reality showed that he can win against anyone (and lose to anyone as well), while Turn has not yet played this year. However, that is nothing but another thing to be scared of!![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kWro5bV.jpg)
In TvT and TvP, Reality's troubles lie in choosing the right build orders. His mechanics are easily good enough to make him a Code S regular but he can not play 2 games on the same level. One game he will crush and the other two he might play on his lower level. In SPL, the format favours Reality in such a way that when Reality chooses right BO and executes it with his mechanics he can win versus any player - it doesn't matter how many championships you have.
In TvZ, it is another story. Right now, Reality has some of the best vZ in Korea. After the transition, he said in his interview that he could not lose to any zerg. He quickly proved this by being the best terran at the WCS Korea 2012. However, he unfortunately failed to qualify for a few leagues but Reality has never had trouble with TvZ and in the recent game vs Hydra he showed that unlike his favorite MMM compositions he can also execute mech strategy. Do you understand what this means? Reality is not only a master of the high-octane bio play that is the signature style of players like Innovation, he can also wield the power of slow mech compositions expertly. When you face Reality, you either hide your zergs or lose!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/cjFAZ12.jpg)
TurN is always about the perfect rush. His main problem is nervousness - he can play macro but due to high pressure he fails to do it well (just like TheBest he wins macro in prelims but fails to win in televised matches and goes for rushes instead). I hope that he trains hard to fix this issue and by the next round he will be sent not to rush but to win a macro map But now, he is still all about timing attacks and rushes which helped him to win against elite players like INnoVation and herO in SPL 2013.
Blue flame timing vs Bbyong
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMokMAADe08
3 Base scv push vs herO
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http://www.twitch.tv/sc2proleague/c/2158150
Hellion timing vs INnoVation
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NeCecjiQWU
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/TLFE/Haji_BestGamesPart2.jpg)
If none of the above convinced you, allow me to say this: Samsung Galaxy KHAN is coming for you, your team, your wins, and your money. You either get out of their way or suffer the crushing consequences of embarrassing defeat.
KHAN fighting!
