[crAzerk]

The SEACL Finals is here.
Today. 6PM SGT/8PM AEST Bo9 (First team to 5 wins).
First Map: ESL Shattered Temple
Stream @ http://www.justin.tv/benjisc2 with...

+ [Read The Pre-Match Interviews!!] +

After several weeks of intense competition, the first season of the SEA Clan League is coming to an explosive finish! In case you have no idea what this tournament is about, you can refer to the original thread here. You can also check out the semi-finals recap here!

Over 10 teams fought hard to earn their spots in the playoffs, and two powerhouses have emerged to fight it out in the finals - clan aLt and Terror Australis (TA)!

I decided to interview the two clan leaders of the finalists to find out their thoughts about the SEACL finals!

+ [Interview with aLtnirvAnA!] +

1) How do you fancy your team's chances of winning in the finals?
It will be close, both teams have great players but i think aLt has a slight edge! Well since I'm in aLt I'm heavily biased and optimistic for our chances!

2) Two of your players seem to be in phenomenal form - iaguz all-killing in the Ro8 and Yoon going unbeaten for the semis. Can we count on seeing either of these players in action in the finals?
Haha that depends if Yoon has birthday parties to attend (editor's note: Yoon left halfway during the semis after he 3-0ed inFi for a birthday party) and if iaguz is needed in middle earth. I shall not reveal any information on our player choices!

3) If you could 'veto'(exclude) two players (if can't think of 2 then just 1) from the opposing team, who would it be and why?
Edge & Deth. They are by far the best in TA imo, with rossi trailing slightly behind.

4) Any final words about the Finals or SEACL in general?
I honestly did not expect us to go this far, since we have been getting pwned recently in the KOFs haha! I hope we win it, but at the same time, I hope everyone has had fun and enjoyed playing in this event. Big shoutouts to Frost for being the admin in literally every playday and for our sponsor "Mr Ray" for making this happen!

+ [Interview with TAScarecrow!] +

1) How do you fancy the chances of your team winning the Finals against aLt?
Pretty damn good. Any TA member to drop a game will fall upon their keyboards in a painfully blunt form of ritual suicide, so motivation is high. aLt will literally have to all-kill TA to take the title. To be honest, the series will likely be closely fought but I have faith our boys will take it at the wire.

2) From the past 2 series, it is clear that TA has great depth with different players stepping up to win games and Edge managing to clinch the Ace matches. Will you be utilizing the full depth of your team again or can we expect something different?
I’m confident that anyone on our ten man squad can step up for the final. We don’t have placeholders on our A team. Hocus all-killed SPR just last week and I’m not even sure he’ll get off the bench for the final. We’ll be looking to mix things up this time around to avoid becoming too predictable. Our snipers are hard at work preparing for aLt’s big guns.

3) If you could veto (exclude) two players from aLt, who would they be and why?
YYJ & Kelly. YYJ for being a top Aussie Terran and his almost all-kill vs inFi. Kelly because TA doesn’t condone violence against women.

4) Any final words about the Finals or SEACL in general?
I can’t wait! Big thanks to Mr Ray for sponsoring such a great event, Frost for being a reliable admin and SC2SEA for running and covering it smoothly. Looking forward to future Clan leagues/tourneys as, just like GSTL, team competition is where it’s at for both players and spectators.

A diplomatic response from nirvAnA and a hilariously confident one from Scarecrow!

And we do not forget the two other teams which these finalists have eliminated, two clans who are no pushovers themselves - nGen and inFi! I talk to the leaders of these teams about the aLt-TA finals.

+ [Interview with nGenLight!] +

1) Your team had a very close fight with TA in the semis. Which team do you think has a better chance of winning the SEACL Finals, aLt or TA?
It was a fun series, many things didn't go the way we envisioned (particularly the mishap in the game between Jazbas & Rossi). However, enormous amounts of credit must goes to TA for playing a wonderful series, and now having an opportunity to be the champions of the first SEACL.

It is hard to pick as both clans have incredibly strong lineups. I expect it to be an exciting and close series that will go down the wire. That said, I must give a slight edge to TA, as their Terrans are extremely strong against the Zerg heavy aLt. I think it will come down to how well TA can handle YYJ.

2) Looking back at the semifinals, would you have changed the sequence of players that you fielded in any way?
No we were quite happy with our lineup sequence, and the players that we sent out against theirs. Although I do feel pity for some of our players that did not get to play - particular Mafia whom I felt would have done pretty well.

3) If you were playing in the finals against either aLt or TA and you could veto 2 players from the other team, who would you choose and why?
aLt: YYJ - aLt's ace player, and one of the best player on SEA, intimidating as usual. Hard to pick a second player from aLt, as Pig, Iaguz and JimDiddy are all quite good. I would say YYJ + Pig.

TA: Hard to choose from TA's top 3 (Deth, Edge, Rossi). However, because nGen are stronger v T as opposed to v Z, my selection would probably be Edge, and another between Rossi and Deth. Veto Edge + Deth

4) Any final words about the Finals or SEACL in general?
I am really looking forward to finals between the two titan teams of SEA. The SEACL has been a highly pleasurable experience for myself both as a player and a spectator. It is also wonderful to see the attention that SEA clans and SEA players are getting thanks to SEACL.
A big shout-out to Mr. Ray, the sponsor who made this all possible, and I sincerely hope that yourself and others that are interested in the progression of Starcraft 2 in SEA will continue to sponsor and support us in the future. It has been a wonderful effort for all the clans, casters, and administration that has been part of SEACL and I definitely feel like we are in for a wonderful finale to this tournament.

+ [Interview with inFiRoz!] +

1) Which team do you think has a better chance of winning the SEACL Finals, aLt or TA? Why?
I think aLt has a better chance of winning the SEACL Finals because they have a more diverse lineup than TA in terms of style and races. Given that the finals will be best of 9 or best of 11, i think that will work in favor of aLt.

2) Your team put up a strong showing but fell to aLt in the semifinals. Looking back at the semis, would you have changed the sequence of players that you've fielded in any way?
We probably would have had some changes if everyone was available. Some of us were busy and couldn't play while others had to be put at the end of the line up because they were having other tournaments.
Either way though, aLt played really well and we just didn't do too well ourselves. I don't think changing the line up or sequence would have made a difference given how we performed haha.

3) If you were playing in the finals and you could veto 2 players from the other team, who would you choose and why?
a) 2 players from aLt
JimDiddy would be 1 of them because he's a very good zerg and most of us have been having trouble with zergs.
YoonYJ would be the other because he plays very differently from other Terrans on SEA and tends to be really aggressive. Most of us would prefer to play against a style we're more used to in a tournament.

b) 2 players from TA
Edge is 1 of the best Zergs on SEA and like i mentioned before, most of us have been having trouble against zerg so vetoing him out would be ideal.
The other player we'd veto out would be deth because he's probably their strongest Terran.

4) Any final thoughts about the Finals?
I think it'll be a close finals and definitely would be exciting to watch. I do think that aLt has the advantage with their more diversified line up but since this is a KOF style tourney, anything can happen!

As we can see, both finalist teams have their strengths. aLt have Yoon and iAguz who are in searing form at the moment and are more than capable of all-kills. At the same time, they are not just a 1-2 man team, with proven maestros of the game like PiG and Oxygen in their lineup.
TA reeks of sheer confidence - every single one of their players is ready to step up to the challenge to take on aLt. They have players like Edge who has proven himself capable to perform in high pressure situations and clinch Ace matches, and Deth who is widely regarded as TA's strongest Terran.

Who will take home the title of SEACL Season 1 Champions, along with the cool cash prize of $400? Find out on Sunday 26th May, at 6PM SGT / 8PM AEST on our livestream with our star caster Benji! His stream link is here, but you can always wait till Sunday to click on the link posted in that day's news post. See you there!

clan aLt's lineup

+ Show +

Team Manager: aLtEdrahil.570

Ten Selected Members:
aLtnirvAnA.951
aLtsheepy
aLtaaron.705
aLtduckie.370
aLtIaguz.117
aLtOxygeN.576
YoonYJ.680
aLtPiG.464
aLtJimdiddy.151
aLtkeLLy.722

clan TA's lineup

+ Show +

Manager: TAScarecrow.531

Members:

TAAmnesiac.343
TAdeth
TAEdgE.100
GGFight
TAhocus.350
TALkori.830
TAriiChard.272
TARossi.617
TASanchez.787
TAChampi.280

[deL]

TAEdgE all-kill!

[EveRorschach]

Love the interviews, adds a better hype great work!

[JacziE]

Haha light blue image for light made me laugh! GL guys!

[FrOst]

TAVoices Will be replacing GGFight tonight.

[Dox]

This thread is broken and now looks very strange on the front page!