[TSL4] Ro16 Monday Preview

Two of the most contrasting players in the entire TSL, Kas and Life come into this match each bringing their own unique methods of success.

Kas is the veteran, the hardened warrior who has fought countless battles in online tournaments and on the ladder with his simple and effective Terran play. In 2012, Kas has had his usual success online, but he doesn't have the big international LAN results to give him the same kind of recognition as the biggest stars in the scene. Aside from stacking up his standard list of $200 online cups, Kas also did take the gold in the Ritmix RSL – a stacked tournament that went largely uncovered in the English-speaking scene.

Kas has pretty much done what everyone expects of him, playing at a consistently high level but lacking the breakout performance that will puts him on the list of “players we really want to see challenge Koreans”. His performance last week against fraer did nothing really to change that, with a quick 3-0 being just another in a string of solid victories. His games were almost exactly what you’d expect too, with his great experience shining both in holding off aggressive play and taking the W in macro games as well.

Life, on the other hand, is the super-young Korean phenom who burst onto the scene with some terrifying performances in GSTL for ZeNEX before they were absorbed into StarTale. He’s been around a little bit longer than that, but before 2012, he was mostly only mentioned in the context of “oh, do you mean Line? That guy's pretty solid!” He's actually similar to his teammate Line (aka Suhosin) in having a very unpredictable play style that doesn't shy away from completely random all-ins, but he also has a very solid macro game. Life has shown he can hang with Code S level competition, but he doesn't have a large enough body of work for him to be considered among the elite of Korean Zergs. His games against elfi only served to reinforce his current reputation, as he barely ecked out a victory over the foreigner in a dangerously close series of strange games after falling behind early.

One common thread the two share is their reputation for being absolute terrors online. TSL4 is precisely the environment the two players can thrive in, and they're sure to bring their best. Almost anything could happen in this match, and Life’s wild unpredictability could prove to be too much for Kas, or Kas could show his expertise in calming the chaos. To be honest, in this match, the biggest challenge for Life is himself – will he continue to throw games away with risky play, or will he be able to dominate a foreigner with mechanics in true Korean style?





This Ro16 match might be one of the highest level matches in the entire tournament. Sure, we had SaSe vs CoCa and Ret vs Squirtle in the previous round, but I don't think we'd be insulting anyone to say that Curious vs Squirtle is on another plane.

In case you're wondering, Curious is now #3 on TLPD Korean Elo rankings, while Squirtle is #4. That makes Curious the #1 Zerg at present, and Squirtle is second to only GSL champion Seed among his Protoss brethren. Curious has been in five straight Code S tournaments, while Squirtle is a former runner-up. Presently, they're both cruising along in WCS Korea Nationals, looking to represent their country in the Asian continentals.

There's really nothing to criticize about Squirtle, but you could kind of knock on Curious for being unable to bring his best when he's playing in Code S. However, this is TSL4, a tournament that's held online until the finals, and it's precisely the environment where players with live game jinxes can show what they can really do.

The best word to describe these two Startale racial aces is 'textbook.' There's nothing about the strategies they use that's out of the ordinary, but their ridiculously high level execution makes what they do very special indeed. A great example is Squirtle's WCS match against BBoongBBoongPrime (albeit, an outmatched opponent), where he turned the two base immortal timing into a work of art, cycling three immortals through one warp-prism, making sure they truly lived up to their names. In a larger scale example, Curious playing turtle-hive is like a demonstration in pure theorycraft, something you'd be tempted to use as proof that Zerg should always win late-game ZvP with perfect play.

Since this is a Startale team-kill, you can't look past the possibility that this series could take a weird turn. These two have honed their PvZ skills to this point by playing against each other, but there's an unusual twist in that they both had to play this very same match-up in the past week's WCS Korea Nationals. Neither player mentioned practicing with the other for their WCS games, suggesting they had somethings they wanted to hide for their TSL4 meeting. Against other players you'd could almost be sure of a great demonstration of textbook play, but given their familiarity with each other, we might see a duel of mind game one-upsmanship instead.





With KeeN scoffing at foreigners in his Ro32 victory interview and VortiX showing plenty of promise and success in recent times, this matchup is #1 on our upset watch in the Ro16.

VortiX showed plenty of confidence in his ZvT in the post-game interview after a solid victory over BabyKnight and is no stranger to taking down high level Terrans, with recent victories over SeleCT, Beastyqt, Kas, and Happy. His opening and style in ZvT varies a bit, with both multiple queen builds and early Zergling speed in his repertoire, yet favoring the slightly older mutalisk-baneling centered midgame. VortiX has shown success both in handling aggressive play and in long macro games, sprinkling in his own aggression from time to time. In the foreign scene, VortiX is pretty much a full package Zerg that has been steadily on the rise, but he is still untested against Koreans due to limited participation in larger tournaments.

KeeN brings confidence and solid aggressive Terran play to the table. Falling to NaNiwa and Stephano in his previous DreamHack appearance, and to BabyKnight and LoweLy in the recent FXO Invitational, KeeN may have misplaced his confidence against foreign players a bit, but he did look good in his 3 - 0 victory over Welmu in the Ro32. Aside from his international escapades, Keen is making his way back into Code S contention, although he will have to pass through next month's Up/Down matches to turly prove his worth. Right now, it's hard to say he's on the level of top Terrans in the world, like Byun, GuMiho, MKP and others, which makes VortiX a potentially dangerous opponent. Keen will certainly have confidence going into this match, but we will have to wait to see if it ends up being overconfidence.

Both players can play a wide variety of builds that make them unpredictable players, and we’ll likely see a wide variety of TvZ games in this series. Both players are likely to have to test their macro play against some kind of all-in, unless they happen to choose the same game map on which to execute such a strategy (in which case, there should be some entertaining chaos).

Beyond the obvious implications going forth in TSL4, this match is also one of much interest for fans in the international scene. VortiX has been touted as one of the best 'unknown' players for a while now, and Keen will provide a valuable litmus test for his ZvT ability. In recent times we’ve seen top class Terrans begin to fight through their TvZ woes, but KeeN could yet struggle against an opponent he underestimates. Any result is possible, but VortiX has the best chance of an upset this round.





This is the TSL4 'insurance match,' as we like to call it. With foreigner vs Korean, or Korean vs Korean duels in all seven other Ro16 matches, there would have been a possibility of an all-Korean quarter-final without this one foreigner vs foreigner battle. Not that we have anything against an all-Korean quarter-final if it means that those eight were the best players in the tournament, but after TSL3, we can't deny that it was tremendous fun following the story of foreigner hope.

MajOr and JonnyREcco aren't the most famous or most established players in the international scene, but as we should all know from TSL's past, fame is no adequate measure of skill. In true TSL fashion, they pulled off a pair of stunning upsets in the Ro32, with MajOr defeating TSL's Hyun while JonnyREcco defeated TSL3 loser runner-up NaNiwa. After the TSL Ro32, MajOr went on to win WCS Mexico without dropping a single map, while JonnyREcco went to ASUS ROG and played a tight series with Millenium's fOrGG before suffering a 2 – 3 loss (he was later eliminated by MaNa). After being on the periphery of the international scene just a few months ago, suddenly these two players are demanding your attention.

Both players prefer to play the ZvT match-up, and from their recent series against strong Korean players fOrGG and Hyun, their confidence is well placed. MajOr's mech and hellion play was particularly impressive against Hyun, with the dogged hunting of drones being key to his victories. On the other hand JonnyREcco looked like another solid player of standard ZvT in his loss against fOrGG, although given that limited sample of games and the large number of skilled ZvT players in the international scene, it's hard to say he's a true stand-out player yet. Let it suffice to say that 2 – 3 against fOrGG at a serious live tournament was an impressive haul for a newcomer to the scene, and with a few repeat performances he might start to earn comparisons to players like Ret or Nerchio.

TSL has been a tournament where players have had break-out performances, and these are two players who could use that kind of opportunity more than anyone. The stacked Korean field means that it will be harder than ever for a foreigner to make an impact, but the potential reward is that much higher. If MajOr and JonnyREcco truly understand what's at stake and can push their games to another level, we could have a classic match on our hands.

---