Hope dwindled for fans of mankind around the world as JinAir_Maru – the sole remaining Terran in Code S – failed to keep up with a spirited performance from ST_Life in the Round of 8.
Life's play might have been called cheesy if executed by any other player, but in his hands we could only call it the prodigy playing at his best. More often than not he simply outplayed Maru with his stellar ability to control speedlings in the early game, and he showed the ability to go for clever tech switches and off-beat "all-in" timings to catch Maru off guard.
But that’s not to say that Maru played poorly. The Marine Prince had shining moments of impeccable micro in spite of the disastrous situations he often played from, and he made Life fight hard for his victory. At the end of the five game series, even the normally stoic Life seemed overjoyed and a little surprised to have advanced to the semifinals.
The other side of the bracket was a tale of two teammates. SKT_PartinG, the once WCS world champion and far more acclaimed player, could not seem to find his footing against the skilled but unassuming SKT_soO. The series began poorly with for PartinG as his unconvincing zealot-phoenix attack backfired completely, leading to a quick 0-1 deficit.
Despite tying up the series with an expertly executed immortal all-in game two, PartinG failed to find his bearings in longer games. In two consecutive games PartinG found himself futility using phoenixes to fight corruptors, which were followed by either a deadly flock of mutalisks in the sky or pack of hydralisks down on the ground. soO was able to easily brush aside his teammate's weak defensive efforts to take a 3-1 win.
This speaks of course of the ability of soO, whose climb to the semifinals is somehow both extraordinary and expected. He's not the biggest star on an SKT team that is as stacked as ever, but he is showing the class of a player who reached the GSL finals last season.
Notes and Observations
What do we make of Parting's peculiar attempt at walling in his enemy? Perhaps it was custom tailored for his teammate and practice partner. While it had the potential to be the coolest manuver of the week, quick cancellations by PartinG mean we'll never know.
Maru showed great resilience in games where he was playing from a disadvantage. His parade pushes looked very strong, and he showed that he is very capable of winning games by other means than his usual aggressive drop-play (which still earned him a victory).
Maru tinkered around with some bio-mech compositions in two games but lost both of them. Emulating Fantasy must be harder than it looks.
Life accidentally blew up his banelings again, though this time it was harder to say it directly lost him a game. With Life insisting that his hotkey settings are perfectly fine, one has to wonder whether his fingers are slipping or if his keyboard is malfunctioning.
It is now confirmed that the GSL Finals will be Protoss vs. Zerg. Sorry Terrans. You came so far!
soOjwa is the most underrated player in the GSL. 2nd place last season top 4 this season. Sucks that Maru lost to Life but he really just kind of blew it when he had good chances to win like in game 1. Oh well there's always next season I guess. Kind of feel like Zest is going to win at this point.
Well that did go at all as i had expected. Ah well least we wont have a pvp finals! I don't mind a bit of pvp but they always seem to be lack luster as a finals.
On March 22 2014 08:19 Shellshock wrote: soOjwa is the most underrated player in the GSL. 2nd place last season top 4 this season. Sucks that Maru lost to Life but he really just kind of blew it when he had good chances to win like in game 1. Oh well there's always next season I guess. Kind of feel like Zest is going to win at this point.
It will just ridiculous, if soO loses to Royal Roader again in finals after beating PartinG and Zerg who is considered way better than him. Truly SKT Zerg Curse. Only difference will be just tournament run, instead of Terrans, this time soO ruined Protosses.
Zest vs Life, for finals and Zest wins. Bcuz Life is a bitch! Yes, pun intended. But srsly Zest vs Life for finals and i do hope Zest wins only bcuz i really dont like zerglings.
darn it Maru! I was expecting him to advance considering Taeja beat Life in IEM :/ Hope soO gets revenge on Maru's behalf! lol. soO beating Parting isn't surprising.
I for sure am rooting for Rain. He is so hard working and he's been at the very top for so long he deserves a GSL win. It is long overdue. But, Zest is strong. I think one of the protoss will win over either of the zergs. Not because of balance, I just think at this moment both zest and Rain are better players than sOO and Life.
Life's play might have been called cheesy if executed by any other player, but in his hands we could only call it the prodigy playing at his best. More often than not he simply outplayed Maru with his stellar ability to control speedlings in the early game, and he showed the ability to go for clever tech switches and off-beat "all-in" timings to catch Maru off guard.
But that’s not to say that Maru played poorly. The Marine Prince had shining moments of impeccable micro in spite of the disastrous situations he often played from, and he made Life fight hard for his victory. At the end of the five game series, even the normally stoic Life seemed overjoyed and a little surprised to have advanced to the semifinals.
So sad, no Maru and all Terrans were got kicked out At least we have PvZ in finals, come on Rain! Wait a minute, Zergs had won 4 in last 5 GSL finals@@
On March 22 2014 08:19 Shellshock wrote: soOjwa is the most underrated player in the GSL. 2nd place last season top 4 this season. Sucks that Maru lost to Life but he really just kind of blew it when he had good chances to win like in game 1. Oh well there's always next season I guess. Kind of feel like Zest is going to win at this point.
It will just ridiculous, if soO loses to Royal Roader again in finals after beating PartinG and Zerg who is considered way better than him. Truly SKT Zerg Curse. Only difference will be just tournament run, instead of Terrans, this time soO ruined Protosses.
On March 22 2014 08:19 Shellshock wrote: soOjwa is the most underrated player in the GSL. 2nd place last season top 4 this season. Sucks that Maru lost to Life but he really just kind of blew it when he had good chances to win like in game 1. Oh well there's always next season I guess. Kind of feel like Zest is going to win at this point.
It will just ridiculous, if soO loses to Royal Roader again in finals after beating PartinG and Zerg who is considered way better than him. Truly SKT Zerg Curse. Only difference will be just tournament run, instead of Terrans, this time soO ruined Protosses.
I wouldn't conisder Life better than soO.
Overall sure since Life's ZvP and ZvT leave a lot to be desired, but in ZvZ I wouldn't put a single zerg in the world higher than him.
On March 22 2014 08:19 Shellshock wrote: soOjwa is the most underrated player in the GSL. 2nd place last season top 4 this season. Sucks that Maru lost to Life but he really just kind of blew it when he had good chances to win like in game 1. Oh well there's always next season I guess. Kind of feel like Zest is going to win at this point.
It will just ridiculous, if soO loses to Royal Roader again in finals after beating PartinG and Zerg who is considered way better than him. Truly SKT Zerg Curse. Only difference will be just tournament run, instead of Terrans, this time soO ruined Protosses.
I wouldn't conisder Life better than soO.
Overall sure since Life's ZvP and ZvT leave a lot to be desired, but in ZvZ I wouldn't put a single zerg in the world higher than him.
life only wins ZvZ if u run banelings into his hatchery
On March 22 2014 08:19 Shellshock wrote: soOjwa is the most underrated player in the GSL. 2nd place last season top 4 this season. Sucks that Maru lost to Life but he really just kind of blew it when he had good chances to win like in game 1. Oh well there's always next season I guess. Kind of feel like Zest is going to win at this point.
It will just ridiculous, if soO loses to Royal Roader again in finals after beating PartinG and Zerg who is considered way better than him. Truly SKT Zerg Curse. Only difference will be just tournament run, instead of Terrans, this time soO ruined Protosses.
I wouldn't conisder Life better than soO.
Overall sure since Life's ZvP and ZvT leave a lot to be desired, but in ZvZ I wouldn't put a single zerg in the world higher than him.
life only wins ZvZ if u run banelings into his hatchery
People must do that an awful lot then given his record this year
PartinG looked god awful vs soO, hopefully Rain doesn't put up a showing that is just as bad or more terrible than his teammate. Really wish sOs and herO could've played on Day 2 since they had to play the most games at IEM on the most days and maybe they could've prepared more/caught up on rest to get rid of jetlag. But oh well, just have to put an (*) next to the winner's name to indicate they wouldn't have won if IEM was scheduled differently.
On March 22 2014 08:19 Shellshock wrote: soOjwa is the most underrated player in the GSL. 2nd place last season top 4 this season. Sucks that Maru lost to Life but he really just kind of blew it when he had good chances to win like in game 1. Oh well there's always next season I guess. Kind of feel like Zest is going to win at this point.
It will just ridiculous, if soO loses to Royal Roader again in finals after beating PartinG and Zerg who is considered way better than him. Truly SKT Zerg Curse. Only difference will be just tournament run, instead of Terrans, this time soO ruined Protosses.
I wouldn't conisder Life better than soO.
Life ZvZ is only matchup which i consider better than almost anyone. But soO is spending tons of time with Soulkey right now + he's not playing in SPL this round, so he will be in good shape i hope.
I think Life vs. Rain would be the best final; they are the two most deserving players. Would love to see the young prodigy raising the title at the end.
On March 22 2014 08:19 Shellshock wrote: soOjwa is the most underrated player in the GSL. 2nd place last season top 4 this season. Sucks that Maru lost to Life but he really just kind of blew it when he had good chances to win like in game 1. Oh well there's always next season I guess. Kind of feel like Zest is going to win at this point.
It will just ridiculous, if soO loses to Royal Roader again in finals after beating PartinG and Zerg who is considered way better than him. Truly SKT Zerg Curse. Only difference will be just tournament run, instead of Terrans, this time soO ruined Protosses.
I wouldn't conisder Life better than soO.
Life ZvZ is only matchup which i consider better than almost anyone. But soO is spending tons of time with Soulkey right now + he's not playing in SPL this round, so he will be in good shape i hope.
Soulkey isn't that stellar in ZvZ either at the moment, though.
On March 22 2014 08:19 Shellshock wrote: soOjwa is the most underrated player in the GSL. 2nd place last season top 4 this season. Sucks that Maru lost to Life but he really just kind of blew it when he had good chances to win like in game 1. Oh well there's always next season I guess. Kind of feel like Zest is going to win at this point.
It will just ridiculous, if soO loses to Royal Roader again in finals after beating PartinG and Zerg who is considered way better than him. Truly SKT Zerg Curse. Only difference will be just tournament run, instead of Terrans, this time soO ruined Protosses.
I wouldn't conisder Life better than soO.
Life ZvZ is only matchup which i consider better than almost anyone. But soO is spending tons of time with Soulkey right now + he's not playing in SPL this round, so he will be in good shape i hope.
Soulkey isn't that stellar in ZvZ either at the moment, though.
It doesn't matter so much though. Soulkey has more experience of playing in such stages of competition, so he can at least showcase some stuff for soO + tell him some tricks because i don't think that soO will win with only solid play.
Not sure what happened to PartinG on that day, every move felt so desperate. If Rain can keep his composure against Zest then this season is his. Maru's TvP would have been the best for a finals, that matchup is amazing to watch.
I would love to see a Life vs Rain finals so much. Literally my two favorite players in Korea. Don't care who wins that as long as it happens. And the best part is....Rain doesn't cheese.