The Proleague Koreans

by iS.Axslav

• KT_Flash
• STX_Hyvaa
• SKTelecom_soO
• Woongjin_Soulkey

Contributing writing by Waxangel


Four KeSPA players won spots in the group stage at MLG Fall Championship through the MvP Invitational tournament. One of them, you've probably heard of. As for the three others, well you might need a little introduction unless you were an avid watcher of MvP.

Luckily, MvP caster and analyst iS.Axslav decided to lend us all a hand and share his expert insight on the KeSPA players coming to Dallas.

Flash


Notable Achievements: 3-time OSL champion, 3-time MSL champion, WCG 2010 champion, #1 KeSPA ranked player for 14 months, 2nd place all-time Proleague wins (409), and too many more to list.

MvP Regular Season Record:
      vs. NA: 20 - 4
      vs. EU: 10 - 2
      vs. KR (non-KeSPA): 9 - 3






Brood War Background

Of all the KeSPA players coming to Dallas, Flash needs the least introduction. Debuting as a fourteen-year old prodigy in 2007, Flash needed just four years to solidify his position as one of the greatest RTS players of all time. While past greats have also won multiple championships in a year and shown similarly dominating form at their peaks, Flash's consistency year after year was unprecedented. Had professional Brood War survived for another few years, there was no question that Flash would have become the undisputed greatest of all time. Alas, a tragic fate befell Brood War in Korea, and Flash has been forced to move on. The competitors at Dallas will be relieved that The Man Called God is still learning StarCraft II, but there is still a frightening sense of foreboding that Flash will find a way to continue his legacy.

Road to Dallas
+ Show Spoiler [Detailed Stats] +

Flash had a very strong MvP regular season run, not once dropping out of the top four. Even more amazingly, Flash never lost more than a single game against any player in the regular season. Another interesting thing to note is that while most Proleague players performed noticeably better against the NA division than the KR division, Flash showed similar performances against all the divisions, having a 75%+ win rate against each one.

In the playoffs, Flash went up against Effort in the first round, winning a closely contested 4 - 3 victory in what was one of the best series of the tournament. In round 2, Flash once again fought in a very close series, but was eliminated 3 - 4 by SoO. Still, this was good enough to win him a ticket to Fall Championship in Dallas.

MvP standout game: Game Two vs. Effort, Playoffs Round One - VOD
+ Show Spoiler [Game Recap] +

Stylistic Analysis

Flash’s style revolves around macro that redefines the word macro. No matter who his opponent is, Flash magically finds himself with a massive supply advantage. His excellent anti-cheese defense has a lot to do with this, allowing him to play what appears to be very risky builds with no chance of early defeat. Flash achieved his relatively even win-rates across the different MvP divisions by just plain outmacroing everybody, and his losses came in the very few cases where he fell behind to undetected ploys early in the game, or when he made bad mistakes in army composition.

Flash’s losses to Protoss are far and few between, and his loses to Terran come from early game deficits that are becoming rarer as Flash gains more experience with Starcraft 2. Zergs have proven to be Flash’s source of weakness with him being sometimes caught out of position and losing unnecessary amounts of troops to fungals.

Fall Championship Outlook

In MvP, Flash went 6 - 2 vs MC, Oz, Crank, and Alicia so he shouldn't be too worried about the four Protosses in his group. While he did lose to Terrans SuperNoVa and Ryung in his GSL Up/Down group, those were Bo1 games in which he was playing from behind for much of the game. I can’t see Flash not winning this group.





hyvaa


Notable Achievements: Tving OSL Ro8, Jin Air OSL Ro16, Korean Air OSL Ro16

MvP Regular Season Record:
      vs. NA: 23 - 1
      vs. EU: 8 - 4
      vs. KR (non-KeSPA): 5 - 7






Brood War Background

Like many other KeSPA pros who are finding success in StarCraft II, hyvaa did not have a particularly notable Brood War career. 'Solid' and 'consistent' would be the best words to describe the hyvaa of old, a player who had a career win-rate just three wins over 50%. He was a first-team mainstay in the Proleague, and had an uncanny knack for qualifying for the prestigious OSL without really being a championship challenger in an age of Jaedong's and Flash's. The MvP has been a great opportunity for Hyvaa, and with a surprising 4 - 1 win over OSL champion By.Rain in the playoffs, one must wonder if hyvaa will go down the road of the Nestea's and MC's before him.

Road to Dallas
+ Show Spoiler [Detailed Stats] +

Hyvaa was one of the Proleague players who started off slow, going 12 - 11 over the first four playdays. Picking up builds and counter-builds along the way, he then won 23 of his last 24 games to finish with a 36 - 12 record, barely sneaking into a 5-way tie for the 7th and 8th playoffs spots. As a testament to his massive improvement over the season, hyvaa went 4 - 0 in tiebreaker games against Classic, Last, Trap, and SoO. This brought him into the playoffs against SK Telecom’s By.Rain, where he was regarded as a significant underdog given Rain’s performances in the GSL and OSL. In an upset, hyvaa defeated Rain 4 - 1, showcasing bullet-proof defense in the process. He lost 1 - 4 in the next round of playoffs to Soulkey, who had just come off a 4 - 1 ZvZ victory against Jaedong.

MvP standout game: Game One vs. By.Rain, Playoffs Round One - VOD
+ Show Spoiler [Game Recap] +

Stylistic Analysis

Hyvaa relishes unpredictability, mixing in early aggression builds in all three matchups and is fully willing to play a low econ game. While he hasn’t showcased much offensive harassment ability in the MvP Invitational, his multi-tasking on defense is solid and his single engagement micro is excellent. The unique aspect of hyvaa’s play is his total willingness to constantly sacrifice bases to gain a superior position.

Fall Championship Outlook

Hyvaa should be happy with a Protoss heavy group. While ZvP was statistically his weakest matchup in the MvP regular season, it’s important to note that a lot of his losses came in the earlier phases of the tournament when he looked very different from the player he developed into later on. Those early losses came against MC, Alicia, Crank, and Oz, Naniwa, Sase, Socke, and Grubby, 7 of the 8 best Protosses in the tournament. However, if you look at the playoffs, his complete shutdown of Rain’s harass based play means he shouldn’t have to worry as much about HerO, though Oz and his extremely strong, macro focused PvZ builds could pose a problem. Without taking the open bracket players into account, I predict a 2nd place group finish for hyvaa, with Oz or Leenock being the opponents most likely to hand him a loss.




soO


Notable Achievements: Jin Air OSL semi-finals, Tving OSL Ro8

MvP Regular Season Record:
      vs. NA: 19 - 5
      vs. EU: 11 - 1
      vs. KR (non-KeSPA): 6 - 6







Brood War Background

Soo spent his early career as one of the "SKT Zergs," a group of players responsible for causing endless frustration for fans of SK Telecom T1 through their inconsistency by committee. However, soO turned things around in the 2011 season, becoming a totally different player as he carried the Zerg workload for his team. His success in team competition carried over to individual leagues as well, as he made an impressive debut in the OSL by reaching the semi-finals before losing to eventual champion Jangbi. Soo continued on his upward path in 2012, but with the KeSPA switch to StarCraft II, fans could only wonder what he might have achieved in Brood War in his second breakout year.

Road to Dallas
+ Show Spoiler [Detailed Stats] +

SoO’s first four playdays were against the North American division, against which he had the weakest performance out of any of the Proleague players who made playoffs. He also struggled greatly vs. the Korean division, only winning half his games against the non-KeSPA players, which was also the weakest performance out of any of the Proleague playoff players. SoO somewhat vindicated himself by dominating the Europe division, giving him the overall score he needed to barely to squeeze into the 5-way tie for a playoff spot.

In the tie-breakers he again barely got through, losing to hyvaa but defeating Classic, Trap, and Last to grab the number two spot. SoO went into the playoffs a heavy underdog against the number one seeded Ty (baby) but came through in an absolutely dominant 4-1 victory showing the regular season was just warmup for him. While he wasn't quite as dominant as he was against Ty, SoO continued to win in the playoffs, defeating Flash and Soulkey 4 - 3 to reach the MvP finals (Thursday night at 10PM eastern time!).

MvP Standout Game: Games Two & Six vs. Soulkey, Playoff Semi-Finals - VOD 1 - VOD
+ Show Spoiler [Game Recaps] +

Stylistic Analysis

It’s very hard to pin SoO down to a specific style or skill set. In his series vs. Flash, his infestor-speedling play led him to victory, but against Soulkey his handling of the early and mid-game was key to his wins. SoO has such a broad range of skills that whatever weaknesses his opponent has will become apparent when playing him, no matter how minor they might seem. His style is chameleon like, shifting to exploit whatever aspect of the game his opponent might have a minor deficit in.

Fall Championship Outlook

While soO was barely a KeSPA player we heard of coming into the transition, his performance at MvP suggests he could be a very dangerous late bloomer. After overpowering some of the best players KeSPA had to offer in the MvP playoffs, you have to think that this MLG bracket looks easy in comparison (of course, it all depends on who comes through the open bracket). All of his potential opponents have notable weaknesses - Bomber: poor bio micro, First: terrible PvZ player, Scarlett: not-Korean, and so forth. Put it altogether, and soO should be the favorite to top this group.





Soulkey


Notable Achievements: Tving OSL Ro16, ABC Mart MSL Ro16, PDPop MSL Ro16

MvP Regular Season Record:
      vs. NA: 22 - 2
      vs. EU: 11 - 1
      vs. KR (non-KeSPA): 6 - 4






Brood War Background

The TaekBaengLeeSsang (Bisu, Stork, Flash, Jaedong) are the most well-known Brood War pros among StarCraft II fans, and rightfully so – the quartet dominated much of the late 2000's leading up to StarCraft II's release. However, their hegemony could not last forever, and players began to challenge them in the last years of Brood War (new faces and resurgent veterans alike).

Soulkey impressed fans in the 2010's with his incredible defensive ability and creativity, becoming one of the best players in the Proleague and was touted by many as a future championship contender. Unfortunately for Soulkey, he could not live up to such expectations before pro-Brood War came to an end, finishing his BW career as a Proleague-only phenom.

Now, Soulkey has a new set of expectations to live up to. During the early transition period to StarCraft II, many of Soulkey's colleagues pointed him out as the best among the KeSPA players, reaching grandmaster while others were mired in high masters. With seeds in the GSL and MLG, Soulkey will attempt to realize his dreams in StarCraft II.

Road to Dallas
+ Show Spoiler [Detailed Stats] +

Soulkey ended up in third place at the end of the regular season by absolutely dominating the North American and Europe divisions, winning over 90% of his games. He struggled slightly with the Protoss heavy Korean division, with four of his seven total losses coming against his non-KeSPA countrymen. However like Flash, Soulkey showed impressive consistency by not dropping more than one map to anyone in the regular season. Soulkey’s playoff run showcased excellent ZvZ play, with wins over both Jaedong and Hyvaa by 4 - 1 scores before losing to an on-fire SoO by 3 - 4.

Stylistic Analysis

Soulkey’s main strength is his infestor play. Soulkey has an uncanny ability to take battles by making infested Terrans the most important ability on the field, intelligently placing them in locations that make retreating difficult for his opponent. If the engagement calls for fungals, Soulkey makes sure he’s fighting in a location where they can have maximum impact. Seeing Soulkey lose an infestor is a rare occurrence as he’s very careful to always keep them in a safe location. When an infestor does go down it’s part of a calculated risk, ie. his Cloud Kingdom game vs. Crank where he came back from behind by getting repeated neural parasites on Crank’s mothership in multiple engagements, even if it cost him a few infestors each time. As seen in his playoff matches, his infestors are especially scary in the Zerg mirror where his ideal late-game composition seems to consist of pure infestors, using them both for engagements and for harass via nydus worms and drops.

Fall Championship Outlook

Soulkey’s ZvZ proved to be exceptional during the MvP tournament, so while this group is exceptionally tough all-around, Soulkey is well prepared to deal with it. Life and Taeja will most likely be his biggest hurdles, with Life being a ZvZ ace player and Taeja being an all-around beast. I predict his ZvZ to give him a great shot at topping the group, with a win or loss vs. TaeJa likely to decide whether he can finish #1 or not. Bet on a top 3 finish for Soulkey for sure, but it’s up to his form on the day of the tournament to decide which of those spots he will take.