Even though OGN Sparkyz battled threw rain and fire to reach the finals, Samsung Khan was the final stop. OGN threw everything they had at KHAN, but only managed to score a single win in the very first game before it all went wrong.
Having secured the first position in the league this season, Samsung KHAN had a lot of time to prepare for this critical match. This showed, as all the players KHAN sent in were well prepared and hungry, resulting in some really good games. What was somewhat surprising was the manner of Samsung's victory. This wasn't a particularly even contest, this was a rather one-sided stomping. Let's take a look at the games and see where things went sour for OGN.
Game 1 - Hades vs Leta @Katrina SE
Match Preview A zerg was probably not the opponent Leta was hoping for, but it turns out to be Hades, not JangBi or Stork, he has to face. One cannot help but feel that Hades is being sacrificed to avoid a snipe, considering Leta's recent performance against protoss. Hades hasn't been up against a terran since January, where he defeated BaBy in the Minor League. In fact, Hades hasn't seen much play time at all this season, whereas Leta has been out in the field quite a lot against far better players. Leta should be able to take this one home, regardless of his mediocre score against zerg.
The first match was certainly not sour for OGN. Leta started out at 6 o clock and Hades started out at 9 o clock. Early game showed no particular trickery, Leta going for a safe wall-in build and then proceeding into a fast expansion in his natural. Hades conversely went for a 12 hatchery and built only a few zerglings. Behind closed doors Leta was devising some trickery however, building a quick factory followed by a starport and science facility, allowing him some very swift science vessels. Hades tried to get an overlord in to scout, but was driven away by a marine, so he was in the dark from then on. After a couple of mutalisks were built Hades decided to tech to hive very early, building very few units as a result. Added to this he opted to expand twice in the top part of the map.
Following a drop on Hades' natural which took out an evolution chamber, Leta pushed out with a sizeable force of MnM, tanks and science vessels. The tanks set up camp just below the cliff of Hades' main and started shelling units who strayed near. Defilers and the few lurkers that Hades had were only able to stall for a few moments before a drop at the top expansion as well as the overwhelming force outside his main tore him to shreds. Leta was as predicted the stronger player and scored the first win for OGN.
Game 2 - Stork vs Luxury @Andromeda
Match Preview This is certainly a step up from the previous game. Stork, the eternal second place holder, gets to face Luxury on a map that favors zerg over protoss. Add to this that PvZ is not Stork's favored matchup, that he faced Luxury on this very map in May and lost, and things are looking somewhat grim for Stork. It is probably quite safe to say that given Stork's record of choking in clutch games, Luxury's recent solid play and the map, this game should by all rights belong to Luxury. Stork might be able to pull something fancy out of his sleeve and surprise everyone, but this should be considered improbable.
Where the first game was a short and sweet take down, the second game turned out to be somewhat longer. Luxury spawned at 11 and Stork at 1 o clock. Early game saw Stork going for a standard fast expansion opening while Luxury went for a nine pool. The zerglings didn't accomplish a whole lot, as they found Stork's choke locked up nice and tight. Luxury then decided to tech and expand quite heavily, meaning his spire wasn't quite finished before the first corsair from Stork graced the air. The number of corsairs grew along with the number of reavers, and despite Luxury's best efforts with hydralisks, scourge and static defense, four reavers paid a visit to the 9 o clock expansion, reducing it to a mound of gore. Hydralisks quickly showed up in an attempt to rescue it, but well placed scarabs and even better placed disruption webs took down first the hydras, then the hatchery.
This maneuver was repeated with the entire bottom left part of the map, cleaning up Luxury's expansions without him able to do anything about it. The next few minutes saw Luxury putting up expansions and Stork tearing them down. During this time Stork decided to go for carriers, which brought back memories from the 1.5 hour game against GGplay on this very map a while ago. The carriers reached critical mass and started cruising around the map destroying things along the way, with a ton of corsairs as support. Luxury threw wave after wave of devourers, scourge and even mutalisks after the marauding force, but to no avail. Holding out for a surprising long time, Luxury did all that was humanly possible, but Stork's control and nerve was just too good. Stork silenced his doubters and proved that he can in fact play like a champ in a finals game. 1-1 is the standing as we head into the 2v2.
Game 3 - TT / JiHyun vs Zeus / Yellow[ArnC] @Hannibal
Match Preview The first 2v2 match is somewhat difficult to predict. The Zeus/YarnC team has really grown during the later part of the season, being a key factor in how OGN made the playoffs. Although TT/JiHyun haven't been as pivotal, they've nonetheless proved quite solid as a team and have played for quite some time now. That being said, I'm going to go out on a limb a bit and proclaim that OGN will manage to take this game as well. This is mainly based on their recent performance, whereas the Samsung team has a slightly worse record during late season. This game could very well go to Samsung as well, however.
2v2s are usually short and brutal affairs and this one was no different. Yellow and Zeus spawned at 5 and 3 while TT and JiHyun spawned at 8 and 11. Yellow and Zeus decided right of the bat that JiHyun was going down and immediately sent a zealot and probe along with a few zerglings to inflict as much damage as possible on the KHAN zerg. Two zealots and a handful of zerglings were no match for the nice micro that JiHyun showed, isolating the protoss units with his drones and taking them down, leaving Yellow's troops outnumbered. At the same time TT sent a force down to Yellow's base, sending his drones running and tearing down his hatcheries. There was no hope for OGN and they surrendered. The cornlined TT proved in his ceremony that computer gamers aren't necessarily tawny and unfit, offering his bare torso to his teammate who then proceeded to write something on his chest. Samsung takes the lead 2-1.
Game 4 - firebathero vs go.go @Wuthering Heights
Match Preview Where the first three games have favored OGN (mostly), this game certainly favors Samsung KHAN. firebathero is a seasoned TvT player who has scored wins against all the terrans that count, which is more than can be said for go.go. Unless go.go decides to try some cheesy build, expect him to be dismantled by firebathero, perhaps followed by a brief dance number.
A TvT on Wuthering Heights it is. Was this going to be the standard tanks and vulture chess game that usually defines this matchup on this map? As it turns out, no. firebathero spawned at 1 o clock and go.go at 5. go.go decided right away to go for a fast expanding build while FBH did not, as he decided to go dual starports. go.go was probably hoping that FBH was doing something similar, but no such luck. A few marines and vultures paid a quick visit and were almost deflected by the bunker go.go threw up, but one vulture made it through and started to wreck havoc in go.go's base, killing scvs and marines while getting a good look at the base layout. The wraiths came in shortly thereafter and go.go had absolutely nothing to counter them with.
go.go managed to scrape together an engineering bay and an armory eventually, but not before suffering heavy casualties among his scvs and tanks. FBH's own ground forces paid a visit right after this and though go.go fought valiantly for a little while there was nothing to be done. The victory was followed by a ceremony that has to be seen to be experienced properly. Suffice to say that fans of firebathero's antics were quite pleased afterwards. Samsung KHAN is now up 3-1!
Game 5 - JangBi vs Chalrenge @Colosseum
Match Preview Another star player for Samsung makes an entrance in the fifth game. JangBi is a very skilled player, although his PvP has been somewhat lacking. He's beaten Much, Stork, Kal and free among others to be sure, but he's taken more hits than he's given. Similar words can be said about Chalrenge, although he hasn't played as many PvPs as JangBi recently. As to the winner of the game, JangBi should be able to pull out a win here unless Chalrenge surprises as he did against Bisu. If all the predictions are correct so far, the score is now 3-2 in OGN's favor.
Their backs against the wall, OGN needed Chalrenge to pull out a win against JangBi on Colosseum, not a trivial feat. JangBi started out at 1 o clock while Chalrenge spawned in the opposing corner at 7 o clock. Now, whoever watched Chalrenge's game against Bisu on Katrina will appreciate the delicious irony here. Bisu lost a critical game to a mass gate dragoon rush, so what did JangBi go for? A mass gate goon rush. Chalrenge was caught completely off guard, having fast expanded as Colosseum really encourages you to do.
What followed wasn't quite as fun though. Instead of saying gg and surrendering, Chalrenge ran away with a bunch of probes. Although most got killed off by reinforcements, some few escaped and Chalrenge plopped down two nexuses as well as a hidden pylon in the corner, forcing JangBi to go hunting for the buildings. Fortunately this did not take long and Chalrenge was eliminated without having said gg. All in all a rather startling display of bad manners.
Closing Thoughts
Samsung KHAN was without a doubt the stronger team and deserves all the praise they get. They were well prepared and hungry and simply outplayed their opponents. Some OGN players talked trash about the Samsung players in front of the press prior to the match, meaning that the ceremonies and the victories are all the sweeter for Samsung. Well done!
