Bisu: I'm not sure why, maybe it's something about the TEMPTS Starleague, but my games have been going really well lately. Looks like this is my time to shine. I will win the finals.
-Gelaar
-Gelaar
Much about the Terror Starleague was a mystery when this tournament was announced. Coming from being a permanently banned BJ to gathering an all-star cast, the controversy and excitement around the tournament alone intrigued us all. Between a two day semifinals we’ve all witnessed sexy stargirls dancing, hilarious interviews, and a variety of exciting games. All this was brought together by not a shoemaker, but a young man who’s dream is to be nuts as possible while carrying the passion torch of Brood War. It all seems to have paid off as viewer numbers surpassed forty thousand concurrent views and has become a resounding success. Little is known about what can be expected in the pregame show leading up to the finals, but you can bet the whole event is a can’t miss.
Bisu’s victory puts Bisu at a record of 7-1 in the Terror TEMPTS Starleague. His first loss finally comes from game 3 against hero in an exciting semifinals matchup. Bisu vs Hero offered us a little bit of everything.
Game 1 showed us how such a simple error as poor building placement can punish a player. Bisu opened 2gate and pressured Hero’s natural. With quick reaction, Hero placed down 2 sunkens. While morphing, Hero attempts to take on the initial group of zealots attacking his base with just zerglings. The creep colony placement unfortunately eliminated surface area to surround Bisu’s zealots and the might of Protoss quickly became too much.
Game 2 looked like it could be Hero’s map. Spawning on the bottom left of Blue Storm, Hero was able to secure a second and third base with little to no damage from Bisu’s harassment. Bisu, in turn, was able to fasten down his third and both players entered macro army mode. Large troves of hydralisks herded towards Bisu’s third and attacked from an advantageous high ground position. Few units can overcome high ground advantage as easily as high templars. Using these specialist units perfectly, the initial zerg wave was completely wrecked. Gathering into a deathball, Bisu commanded dragoons, zealots, and high templars across the map. Lines of lurkers fell as hero was unable to defend them during his remacro and recovery phase following the initial loses. High templars transcended into their final form and 21 kill archons plowed the way for dragoons into the bases of hero.
Game 3 looked to be a turning point for the series. Hero targeted Bisu’s weakness, early hydralisks harassment. It was a beautiful symphony of mind games as Hero’s initial timing attack did damage to Bisu’s economy and then he continued to fake future attacks forcing Bisu to invest in defense and go all-in off two bases. Bisu’s reaction to invest in reaver harassment would have been really solid had Hero not put every ounce of effort into scouting and defending drop attacks. Every push following was just another reset to Bisu’s army count and without a third base economy eventually Bisu would just have to tap out.
Game 4 is the pinnacle of Protoss in PvZ. Hero does another early attack with hydralisks, but this time was unable to do the same damage as game 3. Bisu defends this attack rather well and forces the midgame. Using just a few zealots and a well-positioned high templar, Bisu was able to secure a third mining base. Hero tries to prevent the expansion with a small group of hydralisks. The game evolves into a mirror of game 1. It is quite clear when Bisu gets his midgame composition correct, he is an unstoppable force. Hero is forced to GG and Bisu advances as the first player into the finals.
A top Zerg versus a top Terran. This was supposed to be Flash versus Jaedong level… Well, it sort of was. Remember that series they played with Flash’s famous 2rax build. It appears Sea wanted to do something similar.
Game 1 started more standard than the rest of the series. Early game pressure made ZerO’s life pretty difficult. ZerO’s true grit showed as he was able to finally push back Sea’s evil siege tanks. As the game powers forward, Sea confidently over expands. ZerO capitalizes the moment with his hive tech army. Dark Swarm covered lurkers and hydralisks surgically pick apart Terran forces. ZerO then pours his heavy stores of gas and minerals into a deadly mutalisk force that would allow him to take game 1.
Britney: "Zero is saving his larvas, its going to be a muta switch"
Terror: "I bet my life its not"
- Ilikestarcraft
Terror: "I bet my life its not"
- Ilikestarcraft
Game 2 looked so promising. Zero’s ZvT skills felt unstoppable. Then an amazing thing happens. Sea opens Barracks Barracks Supply depot. Zero went 12 hatch and signed his death warrant as Sea easily ties the series.
Game 3 is just another example of why Sea is a cheese connoisseur. Opting for an 8 rax build he once again killed ZerO off in the early game.
Game 4 showed a little more variation. After opening 8 rax again, Sea switches to proxy factory tech. Refusing to stop there then transitions into 2 starport tech. Even with Zero aware of the build, his forces could not prevent tanks from being dropped in his mineral line. The economic damage was to severe and Sea advances to the finals at the cost of many Zerg loving fans.
Sunday, Apr 26 1:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
Bisu versus Sea will always remain an extremely popular matchup. This rivalry rates among the best in TvP. Since the return of Bisu, Sea and Bisu have had countless sponsored bo3 and bo5 matches streamed on afreecaTV. The results of the matches always names a new champion. There is rarely a time where you can say Bisu or Sea will win with certainty. Fortunately, between premier tournament stats and TLPD, there is still an opportunity to pick the statistically more likely player to win this best of 5. That being said, it is now time for our Grand Finals map break down and predictions.
Blue Storm:
Terran went on a three game win streak on Blue Storm early December, 2014. Since then, Protoss have won 6 of the last 7. The current Blue Storm champion is Bisu holding the victory flag over Sea in their last meeting during the round of 16 stage of this very tournament. To recap briefly, Sea played a very indecisive game that allowed Bisu to steal a victory from him with mediocre Carrier control. Blue Storm is not an impossible map for Terran. Terrans hold a higher win percentage, but it seems since it left the map pool in KESPA leagues that Terran just don’t perform as well in the matchup.
Two things can be said confidently. Bisu will not repeat his carrier build against Sea. Sea will exhibit more proactive play against Bisu. Arbiters do offer less than carriers on this map, but Bisu will most likely have analyzed the replay and concluded that game was a lot closer then he should feel comfortable with.
Verdict: Predicting that this game will be at a much faster pace and lie heavily on reactionary play by either player, the heavy Protoss dominance on this map as of late, and Bisu’s 4-0 record against Sea on Blue Storm, Bisu will take a win here.
Circuit Breaker:
Sea has a record of 30-17 on this map. Terrans appear to have an easy time on Circuit Breaker with a 66% win rate in both TvZ and TvP. It appears this should be an easy win for Sea, let alone any Terran based on surface stats. Taking a closer look Terran have lost a staggering nine of their last eleven games! Sea fans can remain hopeful. Sea has the second highest win percentage on Circuit Break while Bisu shows great weakness with his 7-5 record.
Verdict: This is not the group of death Circuit Breaker rematch. Sea is free of nerves since this tournament is online. No matter how many recalls Bisu attempts, Sea takes this map.
Fighting Spirit:
In just over 4 years, 404 Protoss versus Terran games have been played on this map! Terran lead in wins by thirty wins. The first two months of the year looked promising on Fighting Spirit. Nearly every other game changed the race of the victor. Since mid-February Terran have gone on a six game win streak and have looked unstoppable. Bisu’s 9-2 record is inflated by non-Terran matchups with only one PvT played and loss to HiyA.
This next stat requires its own paragraph. Sea has a twenty one TvP game win streak on Fight Spirit and has won 23 of his last 24 games on this map. Even scarier is that Sea has only lost two games against a Protoss between May, 2013 and now. Defeating every Protoss on Fighting Spirit except Bisu and Free who he has not played, there is no question Sea is the best TvPer on Fighting Spirit in the SOSPA era.
Verdict: Sea offers twenty nine reasons why he will win on this map.
Neo Aztec:
This map prediction will be the most subjective due to the low statics available. Only three games have been played in leagues in 2015, let alone the past three years. The most notable game has to be Bisu’s win over Mind during the round of 16 winner’s match several weeks ago. Both players played nearly infallible early and mid-games. Using dropships and vultures, Mind attempted two prong attacks. The attacks were executed well, Bisu just reacted perfectly to them. Assigning the right number of units to each position and mounting an epic defense. The game turned into a battle of stamina as it reached the 25 minute mark and Bisu proves he has what it takes to take a win off one of the best TvPers in the world.
Verdict: Based solely on Bisu’s monumental win against Mind, he will once again claim victory on Neo Aztec.
Neo Requiem:
Yet another rarely played map, only one PvT has been played in SOSPA premier leagues and that game was played two years ago. Sea has a 3-0 record against other races on this map, but let’s dig into Brood War history archives and talk old stats. Reaching all the way back to 2008, Bisu has a solid 70% win rate defeating players such as Stork, Reach, and Calm. Sea has a 33% win rate with notable loses to RainBOw and Casy. Okay, so these records aren’t quite significant enough. Let’s talk map terrain. Protoss have to hate how the main and natural are connected. The main’s exit ramp is an up ramp. To travel to the natural, units must travel down another ramp. Between the main and natural is a section that begs for high ground siege containment.
Even if a Protoss somehow manages to take a third, it’s not convenient nor easy to defend. Things seem pretty grim right? Don’t rush too quickly to judgment. Terran have a great early game weakness too. Bunker expanding is not an option on this map. If a Terran wants the natural it’s either a huge early game risk or they wait to siege expand. If a Protoss opens two gates before Nexus, dragoons could really lay on some early pressure. Should Protoss contain the Terran player, a robotic facility follow up will become extremely powerful. If a Protoss pressures the ramp and goes for a reaver drop, the Terran player will get stretched too thin. Turrets will be a precautionary must unless the Terran wants to risk dedicating additional units to guard a mineral line that couldn't be further away from the entrance.
Verdict: Bottom line, this is a scary map for both players. A bio-mech timing could be paralyzing, while a 2 gate opening could easily capitalize on the smallest mistake. Requiem’s 64.8% win rate for Protoss over Terrans is enough to tip the scale here. Bisu wins here.
Final Verdict: Each map was analyzed independently in the exact order of the TTSL wiki and used raw, uninfluenced data to predict the victor. Tallying the verdicts, the final map score and Terrot TEMPTS Starleague 1 victor is:
Bisu 3-2 Sea
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