[TSL4] Grand Finals Preview

CreatorPrime < Ohana > ST_Life
CreatorPrime < Entombed Valley > ST_Life
CreatorPrime < Daybreak > ST_Life
CreatorPrime < Antiga Shipyard > ST_Life
CreatorPrime < Metropolis > ST_Life
CreatorPrime < Cloud Kingdom > ST_Life
CreatorPrime < Ohana > ST_Life
Reflecting on how the TSL has turned out, there is no doubt that the two players that we have left standing before us are well deserved finalists. Creator has demolished his opposition at every turn and has an incredibly impressive 14-2 record to show for (undefeated before the semifinals). He has looked untouchable throughout this tournament and deservedly enters the final as the favorite. On the other side of the coin, after losing his first two games of the TSL before staging a comeback, Life has fought hand tooth and nail to take his spot in the final. Life is the player who had to fight his way to the finals and while it wasn't always pretty, you'd be hard pressed to argue that he doesn't belong in the final.

Creator is known for his rock solid builds and strong macro style. While Creator has a reputation for a sick PvT and has illustrated his PvP prowess in WCS: Korea, his PvZ doesn't share the same accolades among the public. Still, Creator claims PvZ is his best matchup; a statement that will no doubt be tested by this final. Creator's PvZ is distinctly 'Creator' in the sense that he aims to play long macro games where he beats his opponent down in the late game with Mothership, Carriers and multi-pronged harass. A good illustration of Creator PvZ is this game from the TSL qualifiers.

Life on the other hand is the complete opposite to Creator's solid and predictable style. He plays a offbeat style of Zerg where he uses uncommon tactics to surprise the enemy and force mistakes. Does that mean Life can't play long macro games? Not by any means, in fact, some of his uncommon tactics include extremely greedy plays aimed to give Life a massive advantage in the late game. Life's play is largely unpredictable but this unpredictability shouldn't be mistaken for not being prepared. Life has been carefully refining his unorthodox playstyle for months and he knows how to use the appropriate strategy at the right time. Just like how we saw him demolish Keen last week on Cloud Kingdom.

While the first map of this series, Ohana, will be important to set momentum; in my opinion Entombed Valley should be the map which indicates how the series is going to unfold. Ohana is a rather standard map and a good map to feel out your opponent on for a long Bo7 like this one. Entombed, however, is a map where you always have a specific preplanned playstyle for the map. That means a player like Life will have a strong plan coming into the game and observing how Creator responds to this will be very telling - has he prepared something of his own? Did he crush the strategy anyway? If he capable of adapting to Life's unique brand of Zerg? Entombed Valley should tell us all of this. Also the winner of the second map is incredibly important - if the score becomes 1-1 then we know we've got a good series on our hands while a 2-0 score could indicate a more one sided affair.

The last thing to keep in mind for this series is that there is $16000 on the line. Creator has already had some finals experience from his WCS: Korea victory which might mean that he has the mental edge coming into this. However, being an online final it possible that this helps both players remain calm and give us the best quality games. Also it is worth remembering that both players are young and achieving at such a high level already with long and fruitful careers ahead of them - so $16000 and the pressure of a finals might not end up being a significant factor at all.

It's the TSL4 finals. It's been a long road getting here, but it's finally here. There's something about a TSL final that makes special things happen, and I doubt this years installment will be any different. Tune in and watch history unfold, as the conclusion of TSL4 is written into legend.

CREATOR LIFE

MVP_KeeN < Antiga Shipyard > Sting
MVP_KeeN < Daybreak > Sting
MVP_KeeN < Entombed Valley > Sting
MVP_KeeN < Cloud Kingdom > Sting
MVP_KeeN < Metropolis > Sting
MVP_KeeN < Ohana > Sting
MVP_KeeN < Antiga Shipyard > Sting
TSL4’s bronze medal match has traditionally been of more significance than your average third place match, as the winner will be directly seeded into the next TSL, skipping the difficult and time-consuming qualification process. With this as well as a large chunk of cash on the line, Keen and Sting will be bringing their best in what is sure to be an intense series between two exciting players. Both players have managed to distinguish themselves from the crowd of other Korean players they have long been compared to, both through their play in the TSL and through Keen’s cheeky ceremonies and Sting’s insightful interviews.

On one side of the ring is MVP.Keen. You probably know him as this guy.


That says much of what you need to know about Keen. Keen, throughout his history, has always been a solid player on the borderline of Code S and Code A, sometimes pulling a big upset but not quite showing the capability or potential that made us feel like he could be a future champion. Keen’s TSL run thus far has been a bit of a unique one, as he was the only player to face entirely foreigners up to the Ro4. Last week I predicted his shakiness against foreign Zerg players would result in not quite being able to hold up with top Korean competition, and what happened was exactly that – Keen didn’t look awful, but he just didn’t seem to be able to consistently compete with such an excellent Zerg as Life. His opponent this week seems to be a small step down, at least from what we’ve seen – the semifinals last week truly did put the favorites a cut above the two battling here for third, and that’s not to say anything bad about Keen and Sting.

The problem with Keen is that despite his many victories over Code S competition, we’ve never seen much from him that made us say “wow, Keen is much better than these other Terrans”. He plays a variety of builds and styles, featuring bio, mech, timing attacks, cheeses, harass, and pretty much every option a Terran player has at their disposal, but there’s no real hallmark of Keen’s style. In TvT in particular, his play has simply ranged from average to solid – nothing more than that. It hasn’t been too different as of late, splitting games with players who are solidly Code S and many who could be considered better than him. Keen will need to bring his best game to this match, as he’s shown he can only just edge out victories over top competitors when he’s on form, but it would be surprising if the series is excessively one-sided either way.

Sting, who has been teamless for quite a bit now despite showing solid play and some charisma and enthusiasm in his interviews [cough foreign teams cough], suffered a painful defeat to Creator last week to land himself in the third place match. Despite not being able to get through the wall that is Creator, his TSL4 run thus far has been fairly impressive, with solid victories over Beastyqt, DarKFoRcE, and most notably the deadly First. Sting has shown an impressive diversity of aggressive builds, pretty much always trying to keep the pressure on rather than building up deathball maxed compositions. Sting came into this tournament with a nearly blank sheet of accomplishments and only one brief Code A appearance, and he has taken the opportunity to impress, with a solid semifinal run in a quite difficult bracket.

A match against Keen is another great chance for Sting to make an impression, and a seed into the next TSL is definitely a bonus. In interviews, he has stated that he does feel he performs better online, and this tournament has proven his ability to compete with top level players. While it hasn’t quite been enough for us to say he could challenge the very elite, it could be enough for a foreign team to want to take a chance on a player that certainly has the potential to do even better.

This match is quite difficult to call, as it is a mirror matchup where both players are at a similar level. TvT has been both players’ worst matchup historically, and neither has shown particularly exceptional play in the matchup. This matchup could simply come down to who prepares better, as there is certain to be a lot of strategic diversity in a long TvT series. Sting will have all his energy focused on this match while Keen has WCG Korea, GSTL, Code A, and team obligations, and Sting has been quite enthusiastic and methodic with his preparation before. All signs appear to point to Sting, but then again, you never know how good Keen is going to be on the day.

KEEN STING

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