"Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved" - William Jennings Bryan
It's that time of the month again (No, not that time of the month. Gross, guys). The GSL Finals are fast approaching, and once more the Starcraft world turns to face towards it's Mecca, South Korea. Whispers on the internet tell the tales of two men. The first being the saga of an exiled king, who spent a month wandering the deserts of Code A, only to emerge more mighty and spectacular than ever before. The other, of a master ninja, a man who has forever been in the shadow of the greats, but never truly acknowledged as a great himself. On Saturday the 10th of September, the fates of these two men will become intertwined. IMMvp and oGsTOP will meet in the GSL August Code S Finals. To the victor goes the pride, the glory, the huge ass trophy, the fangirls and a whole lotta won.
Even with the recent breakout of esports around the globe, Korea remains at the pinnacle of the "Esports Pyramid". If you want to see the best play against the best (No, not that guy with the banshees), then you watch the GSL. Unfortunatly for us spectators, we've already seen the best play the best. It happened in the Round of 16 when MVP defeated Nestea. Another thing that's going against us is the Curse of the GSL Finals. They have this nasty habit of being bad. Actually, with the exception of Marineking vs Nestea, they've been downright boring. Will history repeat itself this weekend? Is this forever the fate of us lovers of Starcraft? At the very least, we should get to see A Pink perform, so it can't be all bad, right?
The Esports Pyramid in all it's glory
Making his third appearance in a GSL final is Incredible Miracles' Jung 'IMMvp' Jong Hyun. No stranger to playing on a big stage, winning on a big stage, winning on a small stage, or just winning in general really, MVP is all set to claim his third GSL title. Widely considered the best Terran player in the world, hot off winning MLG Anaheim, blasting through the hardest road to the finals anyone has yet to take (Polt, MC, Nestea, HuK, July) while only dropping a single game, how could he not be the favorite? Naysayers/hurters of esports will point out his recent "slump", where he fell down to Code A, in which he placed only second. I heartily encourage retorting to these kinds of people with a violent choice of words (prefereably including a few creative expletives). Mvp is here to play my friends, and he's never looked stronger.
"The games will be interesting" - IMMvp
At the other end of the spectrum we have Kim 'oGsTOP' Jung Hoon, the quiet achiever. It's almost scary how little recognition he gets in the scene. This man has been here since the start. Remember that "Holy crap!" moment in the first GSL Open, in which Fruitdealer busted out fifteen Ultras at once, in what seemed like sheer awesomeness at the time, but is now known as "bad macro"? That was against TOP. In fact, if ultras weren't as ridiculously broken as they were at the time, we might have even seen TOP take the very first GSL. He defeated Nestea, then went on to the semifinals of the Super Tournament. He also won January's Code A over Byun. Hell, he was the guy that busted out nunchucks that one time. But all of this means little if he can't pull through and win the big one, a Code S final. Is it finally TOP's time? Or is he forever doomed to lurk in the shadows of the Nesteas and MCs of the world?
"I will practice diligently and definitely win the tournament" - Every Korean pro ever, uh, I mean - oGsTOP
By all means, TOP is the underdog in these games. But not by nearly the margin that the masses would have you believe. This Saturday, oGsTOP, a man whose presence has always been seen, but never truly felt, wants to show the world that he is an S Class player. To do that, he's going to have to pry the crown from the cold, dead corpse (yes, that's how serious this is) of the current King of Terran with his own two hands. On the other side, we have IMMvp, the man who had it all, lost it, then clawed his way back to his throne. This time, he's not going to be vacating it so easily.
And that's exactly why we should be excited. Speculation on the outcome of the matches seems almost futile by this point. The GSL Finals Curse is a fickle beast, who refuses to play by the rules. And hopefully, she has something special in store for us this week. At the very least, tune in for some A Pink awesomeness.
They're no T-Ara or Secret, but I guess they'll do. Can we get Sistar next time please?
Get hyped people! Find some friends and a big screen TV, grab some drinks, and enjoy some kickass Starcraft II. If you're forever alone, and don't find have rl friends, find an irc channel or some random forum to spam. Just do something! Who do you think will win? Let us know! I also wish that I knew someone who could make cool banners. Seriously, if you're even somewhat competent (ie can draw a better Esports Pyramid than me), let me know
Last edited by Cute; Thu, 8th-Sep-2011 at 7:14 AM.
Polt imo is a TvT genius and TOP's practice w/ PuMa really payed off... and I'd say PuMa has got top 3 TvT in KR... Idk, I think it will be the first proper final even though it's TvT :P
Last edited by AxSGRiM; Wed, 7th-Sep-2011 at 10:23 PM.
I think MVP will take this easy he is just so beast! Really hope its a good finals this time! TOP has always been low profile / under rated but consistently very good.
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