It all comes to an end tonight. $40,000 are lying in wait for the winner of IPL 4 who will come out of the group of NesTea, Squirtle, Stephano, Bomber, MKP, MMA, Polt and Alive
There be *spoilers* about the GSTL grand final, so beware!
NesTea vs Squirtle: Halfway to redemption
Every tournament, with very little exceptions, belongs to a certain player. Be it a product of hype, outstanding results or just the general fear that he instills in his opponents from the very first seconds. If DreamHack Winter was Hero's and MLG 2012 belongs thus far to MarineKing, the current edition of IPL 4 is, arguably, NesTea's playground.
The Zerg Professor dipped in a slump at the end of 2011 and has been having a tough time defending the titles he earned earlier the same year. Who once was the grand overlord of the zerg race in Korea became the tired old lion who sat in the shade forgotten, while the young, newly arise alpha-males such as DongRaeGu and Leenock bit their teeth into new preys. Now, in the IPL 4 playoffs, NesTea is going agaist Squirtle and in addition to his incredible ZvP record, NesTea possesses the comfort that Squirtle has not all-killed his team yet.
While Bomber played his group with the support of a team that will soon be going into a GSTL final, Squirtle shall start the playoffs with the knowledge that StarTale were completely and totally obliterated.
Photo by:Fragster.de
Much like his squad-mate Bomber, Squirtle is strongest when fighting for his team. But while Bomber played his group with the support of a roster that will soon be going into a GSTL final, Squirtle shall start the playoffs with the knowledge that StarTale were completely and totally obliterated. I don't know how much confidence and motivation will Squirtle be able to extract from that defeat, but it cannot be much. Put his glamorous GSTL record aside and Squirtle is but another protoss that stayed too long in Code A whenever he managed to beat the preliminaries. This match leans dangerously away from him.
Stephano vs Bomber: The lone king on the hill
I said that IPL 4 is NesTea's tournament but I might have been in parts wrong on that. For a second time now, the Frenchman is the one that disrupts the flow of the South Korean tide, making him kind of the HuK of IPL.
Not that this matters much, as his opponents will be little impressed by that fact. First on the line to stop the zerg is StarTale's Bomber, who finished first in the terran-heavy Group D and lacks TvZ practice (unless you call one series against Idra a practice) to certain extent during this tournament. What should never be forgotten is that Bomber once won an MLG beating both DongRaeGu (!) and Coca and is at the stupid 78% TvZ win-rate at international events. Both feel very comfortable in the match-up but Bomber's on-and-off performance makes the series an even wilder bet.
For a second time now, the Frenchman is the one that disrupts the flow of the South Korean tide, making him kind of the HuK of IPL.
Photo by: TeamLiquid.net
Stephano has a very distinguished style of playing ZvT and during the Blizzard Cup in 2011, Mvp said that it is easily identifiable and killable and it will be all about can Bomber's macro (which seldom fails to be perfect) withstand Stephano's renowned ling/infestor/ultralisk composition.
No matter who you cheer for, please, in all that's holy, pray for a macro game as this might very well be the face-off of the tournament.
MarineKing vs MMA: I'm in your spot
Remember the times when MMA and Mvp were the best terrans in all the universes and nobody cared about any other? Well, no more, as 'tis the time of the MarineKing.
Queue the audio-book on how MKP used to be that kid that cried at grand finals before 2012 came and brought him a personal reincarnation. It's being pushed all over the media, yet it never gets old. Or false. What does MarineKing possess coming into these playoffs? Two MLG titles in a row, a GSTL championship after killing four players of StarTale, first place in his group, the fact that he's already beaten three of the remaining seven contenders and the assurance that he is, without any doubt, the best StarCraft 2 terran at the time of this article.
MarineKing has matured in both skill and playstyle and MMA is not having the upper hand here.
Photo by: ESFI World
His opponent is MMA--one who came to the playoffs from a group with three more terrans--but MarineKing should have little to worry about. He knows that MMA is beatable: MKP has crushed him on a number of occasions in the past, including the ravishing 3-0 kill in Arena of Legends 1. The Prime terran is no longer the player that does the same thing in every single game and when he does something unorthodox for his style it does not end with an embarrassing 0-4 loss. MarineKing has matured in both skill and playstyle and MMA is not having the upper hand here.
Polt vs Alive: Conquerors in disguise
Aside from the noise of hundreds of thundersticks clapping for Stephano, MarineKing, MMA, NesTea and the other predators with big maws and bigger claws, Polt and Alive will be facing each other in the last quarter final for the questionable honor of meeting MMA or MKP in the next round. Additionally, they make the playoffs look like a Code S top eight from half a year ago.
Polt was in an performance mediocrity for the past few months, doing a long GSL Ro32 service before conquering Assembly Winter and reminding the world that like it or not, he is still a champion material. Being awarded a Code S seed for GSL March and coming out as the star in a group that contained MC, Puma and Squirtle were the additional badges to his newly-sewed cloak of deserved fame.
Being awarded a Code S seed for GSL March and coming out as the star in a group that contained MC, Puma and Squirtle were the additional badges to Polt's newly-sewed cloak of deserved fame
Photo by: ESFI World
Fnatic.Alive has a similar story. The Korean terran that recently joined the foreign team has had a series of lackluster performances until grabbing a GSL top 8 in November and a Code S top 4 right after that, making journalists and community alike use the phrase "untapped potential" quite often when referring to him. Alive is very much like Bomber in the context of those playoffs: we all know he can beat everyone, it is but a question of "untapping".
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