GSL history is made today as Code S sees its first ever royal roader. In a classic David vs Goliath battle, StarTale's Seung Hyun "Life" Lee overcame Jong-Hyun "Mvp" Jung 4-3 to become the youngest player to ever win the trophy.
After a month and a half of competition, Life and Mvp brought their stories to an end today, in a grand final that would be a landmark no matter the outcome.
For Mvp, this was a march towards an unthinkable feat, a fifth GSL title to be commemorated with a trophy made specially for this occasion. The IM terran had the unique chance to break all progaming records as he was now within reach of a possible seventeenth gold medal since the start of his career.
Life, on the other hand, had the shot of becoming the first royal roader of GSL and his run through Code S certainly suggested that this is something very possible. The young zerg entered the final undefeated with 14-2 in maps and victories over some of the best terrans in the entire world, MarineKing and Taeja included.
The G5L trophy or, in Artosis' words, the Golden Mouse equivalent in SC2
The series opened with two straight wins for Life, who took set one in the late game after living through Mvp's blue flame and wrapping it up at the 30th minute mark as Mvp's anti air evaporated after a fungal, allowing the brood lords to reign supreme. Set two saw Life resorting to early-game ling aggression into the very same late-game finish, pulling ahead 2-0.
Mvp's adaptation to Life's playstyle did not lack behind and the terran switched into a heavy defense combined with the game one hellion aggression. Blue flame hellions alone won Mvp the next two sets and rock solid mech aggression took away the fifth set as well. Mvp was now in the lead after winning three in a row, the heavily zerg-favored Whirlwind and Abyssal City included.
Sixth set was Ohana and once again Mvp tried to play the exact same game. Being a bit too greedy cost him a late cancel on his third, however, and Life sprinted ahead economically. The third and fourth bases for Mvp were eventually be secured but Life's brood lords were already in motion and Mvp had little to no anti-air. A short siege forced a GG from the terran, a seventh game would have to be played.
An ineffective 10-pool opened the final set on Daybreak and soon the two were dancing the same dance: hellion harass, zergling counters and mech transitions. Nobody would get ahead in the early game until a thor army of Mvp attacking Life's fifth gets surrounded and cleaned up. Losing the majority of his anti-air and ground power, Mvp was suddenly vulnerable. Roach waves combined with brood lords formed a conga line on the minimap and as Mvp fell further and further behind, the taste of gold was tangible in young zerg's mouth. The SCV pull and the GG that followed indicated Mvp's conceding and a royal roader was crowned.
Life's first premier championship brings him $42,600 and the first ever gold medal for StarTale this year.
