by NrGmonk


b]Where They Stand[/b]
The two teams playing in today's match are actually pretty similar. Both are very well-rounded teams containing players around the same level as their teammates. Of course, most people would rate StarTaleQ's players more highly. Parting recently caught everyone's attention with his impressive PvT play, Squirtle placed second in both IPL4 and GSL, and Bomber also place second at a major lan, the Red Bull Battlegrounds. All three players are at the cusp of the top top tier, and their teammates aren't far behind. Curious is a solidly Code S player, July is legendary, and Virus and Ace are both capable of showing glimmers of Code S brilliance. Not to mention StartaleQ has the option, should they choose, to use Naniwa, Sase, and theStc, all high level players by their own rights. So far though, Startale has not yet ever exercised this option.

NSH also has just as diverse a roster as StartaleQ, as they are able to field at least two decent players of each race. (They're also notable for being able to send an full lineup of players with names that start with the letter S.) The quality of these players leave a bit to be desired, however. NSH currently has no players in Code S and only three players in Code A. Even NSH's most valuable player, Jjakji could not hold onto his Code S mantle. But from experience, we all know GSL status matters little in determining GSTL prowess. DRG, for example, back when he was dominating GSTL, was not even in Code A. And NSH's players, while not necessarily in the GSL, have proven in team leagues that they can all consistently take multiple games off of top players. That being said, it might still surprise you that the lifetime record between these two teams is actually only 3-2 in favor of Startale, with both teams holding one all-kill against the other, from Bomber and Sage. Perhaps NSH shouldn't be counted out so soon.

Key Players
StartaleQ: Bomber
Bomber, as the only player for Startale who has all-killed NSH, will be an important player in today's war. Bomber is so scary for NSH that they often times rely on their ace, Jjajki to take him down with mixed results. Bomber, although he hit a rough patch a few months ago, seems to have caught his stride a bit again. With his second place finish at Red Bull Battlegrounds, where he placed higher than all of his StartaleQ teammates, and the 2GD Studio Arena, where he beat top foreigners in Huk and Stephano, he seemed to declare to the world that he was truly back and it was his time again in the spotlight.

Bomber also seems to be the perfect player to take on NSH. He has no real match-up weaknesses and his strong macro play should be more than capable of handling the unconventional play we have come to expect and love from NSH. Ask Bomber what he thinks of this match, and he'll certainly reply, "Are you ready for Bombing?"

NSH: Sage
Correspondingly, Captain Sage is only player from NSH who has ever all-killed Startale. Unfortunately for NSH, and even more unfortunately for Sage, he is nowhere near the level he once was in his prime, when he showcased both extremely creative and solid play in a large sample of games. In recent matches, NSH has not shown confidence in Sage, instead opting to send out Tassadar and San as their Protoss picks instead of their captain. In short, he is no longer "the next Protoss hope".

But this story sounds awfully familiar. SlayersAlicia, was also, at one time, dubbed "the next great Protoss hope", or even "the chosen one". Since his impressive run through the second ever Code A and first ever Super Tournament, Alicia seemed destined for greatness. But these predictions never seemed to manifest, as Alicia became more mediocre and mediocre with every season, eventually dropping out of the GSL entirely. Then, without warning, and seemingly out of nowhere, he placed third at an incredibly difficult tournament at MLG Anaheim. It may be a bit premature to say that Alicia has truly risen from the ashes again, but this does show that past greats have the potential to miraculously and spontaneous come back once again to surprise us. The spark of inspiration that we once saw from players like Alicia and Sage still exists buried deep within the players, and now is as good a time as any for Sage to make his return. Sage should go into this match with cautious confidence; he gained his fame with his all-kill of fOu(now FXO) and he's all-killed Startale before, so who says it's not about time for an encore?

Aces:
Startale: Squirtle
Even before Squirtle's rise to prominence with his back-to-back second place finishes in big name tournaments, Squirtle could have been considered an Ace for Startale. As Bomber was making the biggest splashes in the GSL from StartaleQ, Squirtle was staying more low-profile, quietly scoring solid numbers of wins for his team. Now that he has moved up to become Startale's most decorated player, we will begin expecting more from the water-type.

But every Pokemon, even a Pokemon legend such as Squirtle has his weaknesses. And as we learned recently in GSL, Squirtle's "vine whip" is the dreaded proxy 2 rax. After MVPKeen determine's that Squirtle's shell was too hard to break with his best macro play, he turned to proxy 2 rax in games 2 and 3, and won both despite the fact that Squirtle had a good idea it was coming in both games. It seems that Squirtle had been psychologically scarred by his GSL finals where he lost to a proxy 2 rax, even after he thought he held it off, in the deciding game. In his interview, Squirtle discusses the traumatic experience and even admits to never having even tried to watch game 7. But as long as the 2nd place curse isn't real, and as long as Squirtle finally practices his proxy 2 rax defense, he should do just dandy. Squirtle hasn't shown that he is the type of player to all-kill, but you can definitely expect a solid 1-2 wins.

NSH: Jjakji
Because of Jjakji, NSH is able to claim that they have more GSL championships to their team than Startale. (And no, Fruitdealer doesn't count). But these days, Jjakji just doesn't seem to seem to make the noise he once did when he won his GSL. We thought he would come back to prominence after winning IPL's tournament of champions, but he once again fell back into the vast sea of "just" top 6-20 Korean Terrans, although he has an asterisk over his name denoting his GSL championship. And of all GSL champions (again, Fruitdealer excluded), Jjakji just seems unremarkable. MVP, Nestea, MC, DRG, and MMA are all still considered titans and at the absolute tip top of their races. And while performing well in GSTL is definitely not a defining characteristic of a GSL champion (looking at you, members of team LG-IM-SK), it certainly wouldn't hurt Jjakji's reputation. Come on, Jjakji. I really like your play, but you really gotta step it up.

Prediction:
What we can definitely expect to see from this match is a clash of styles. StartaleQ is a team with more solid, more standardized play, backed up by results. NSH players, on the other hand, tend to favor more untested and unconventional styles. The results of today's match will directly reflect on StartaleQ's preparation against such stylistic and often wacky play.

Players like Seal, Freaky, and Jjakji should give StartaleQ some trouble, but it will take an amazing streak from at least one of them to really take down such a solid team. But as we learned from + Show Spoiler + All it really takes is one or two key players to have a good day and the best teams in the world will fall at your feet.

But more often than not, the favorites prove they are the favorites for a reason.

Startale 5 - 3 NSH