While Seoul’s coldest day this winter crept through the GOMTV studio walls and chilled players and audience members alike, two of Korea’s best StarCraft II teams emerged from the curtain to line up before the spectators that would see their final battle. After bowing and doing a collective hi-five, the two teams took seats at their respective dugouts, opposed to one another as they awaited the match to begin.

On the left, donning shiny new black jackets and sponsored by Razer, were our partners team MYM.MVP. Lead by notorious Zerg tyrant  Park “DongRaeGu” Soo Ho, MVP had taken down the likes of legend  Lim “BoxeR” Yo Hwan’s famous team SlayerS and Incredible Miracle, which houses players with a total of 8 GSL Code S championships.  Kwon “Sniper” Tae Hoon’s recent Code S victory in Las Vegas means that MVP now has two champions on board, including captain DongRaeGu.

And on the right sat team FXOpen, also in new uniforms and also sponsored by Razer, with such beasts on the roster as Zerg  Lee “Leenock” Dong Nyoung, the “Leenocktopus” and MLG champion, and  Koh “GuMiho” Byung Jae, best known for executing the only all-kill ever to take place at a GSTL Grand Finals and slightly lesser known as the “Towel Terran” for playing with a towel over his mouse to combat his over-perspiring hands.

Match one featured MVP’s Code S Protoss  Seo “Vampire” Sung Min against FXOpen’s Terran  Kim “TheBest” Chan-Min. The players opted for less greedy builds, with both players still at 2 bases 12 minutes in with no signs of expansions coming. TheBest built a Marine-Marauder-Mespanac army while Vampire teched straight to a Dark Shrine to allow quick Dark Templars. But he chose to attack while TheBest had plenty of energy at his Orbital Command, so he scanned his mineral line and killed the Dark Templars, losing only 15 seconds of mining time.

With TheBest now aware of the Dark Templars, he built Ravens and Missile Turrets for detection while Vampire transitioned into Colossi with 10 Warp Gates for quick reinforcements. TheBest had the Colossi scouted, and built Vikings to deal with them. But after a small Skirmish, the Vikings were too few in number to bring down the Colossi in time to prevent them from melting a good deal of the Terran army.

But both players had good economy and production, and it wasn’t long until the sides were even again. Vampire used his Dark Templar tech to produce Archons, and TheBest responded with Ghosts. But he over-prepared for the Archons and built too many Ghosts, so when Vampire focused on Colossi and targeted down what few Vikings TheBest had, there was no answer for the Colossi that burned down the rest of the Terran infantry, taking the game.

With TheBest’s defeat, FXOpen sent out  Lee “Lucky” In Soo to take out Vampire on the map Antiga Shipyard. The game was seemingly normal, with Vampire going for the popular Protoss “Forge Fast Expand” build against Lucky’s double expansion by four minutes. But at the seven minute mark, Vampire saw how non-standard the game was when a Nydus canal opened up in his main base, behind Antiga’s veil of smoke, releasing a stampede of Zerglings into his base. It took him far too long to recall his army, and he was forced to GG.

But whatever other clever tricks Lucky had up his sleeve, he knew they wouldn’t work as soon as  Park “DongRaeGu” Soo Ho stood up to face him. Captain DongRaeGu is not only MVP’s ace player, but he is known for his skill in Zerg vs. Zerg matches.  Furthermore, team MVP chose Ohana for the map, a 1v1 desert expanse long enough to make cheese rushes and other tricks difficult.

The game started out like a game of “Simon Says,” with each player playing a near-identical build of expanding twice before the four minute mark and teching to Banelings and eventually Mutalisks. The builds remained the same throughout the entire game; the winner would be the one with the better unit choice and micro management.

Lucky build an army heavier on Banelings, while DongRaeGu built only a few, opting instead for Speedlings. Lucky harassed on several occasions with his Banelings, but DongRaeGu managed to snipe them down with Queens and inspanidual Zerglings, losing almost nothing to them. But throughout the entire game, including after Mutalisks emerged from both sides, DongRaeGu repeatedly managed to get whole squads of Speedlings into Lucky’s main base, doing continuous economic damage. Though the builds were still the same, Lucky could not keep up with DongRaeGu’s unhindered production. Lucky finally GG’d after losing his Mutalisk army to his opponent’s larger one, as Speedlings danced with their wings below.

Next up from FXOpen was  Nam “Tear” Ki Woong, whose last game against team MVP showed him losing in the first set against  Hwang “KeeN” Kyo Seok. The game opened and the Protoss player sat ready to redeem himself behind a “Forge Fast Expand” wall-off with an extra, more uncommon wall-off protecting his second expansion, which came early for a Protoss.

Outside the booth, Tear’s teammates in the dugout whispered in Korean about how strong his wall was, while the giant industrial screen showed DongRaeGu’s Speedling harassment fail and retreat time after time as Tear massed up Sentries and teched up to Colossi. Tear himself attacked with a contingent of Blink Stalkers and Sentries to DongRaeGu’s natural expansion, and after doing some damage he retreated, using Force Field walls to keep the quick Zerg forces at bay all the way to his base. He Blinked the Stalkers into the safety of his main base, and only the now-depleted Sentries didn’t make it back.

Tear’s Force Field skill was an asset right up to the end of the game, when the Colossi-based army met the Zerg’s Speedling-Infestor army. Though the armies were similar in supply, Tear’s handy Force Field work gave the Protoss a hefty advantage that wiped out the Zerg army and earned a GG from DongRaeGu. Tear left his own and walked to the other booth to give DongRaeGu a gloating thumbs down.

Next up was MVP’s Zerg player  Tak “Monster” Hyun Seung. He isn’t known in the inspanidual leagues but earlier this year pulled off an “all-kill” against five players from the renowned team Evil Geniuses at the IPL Team Arena Challenge 3. He opened up with a standard 14-pool into two expansions. Tear did the Forge Fast Expand build as he did before that has become popular in Protoss vs. Zerg matchups, but this time he built an early Stargate for early Phoenix harassment.

Shortly after it finished, Monster drifted a scouting Overlord into Tear’s base. The Stargate was barely out of its vision to the right. “Orenchook, orenchook, orenchook!” the Korean casters shouted over and over again. “Right side! Right side! Right side!” Finally, the Overlord moved so that the Stargate was barely within range, and Monster instantly started building Hydralisks. The Phoenixes that were eventually churned out hardly did any damage at all, constantly having to retreat from incoming packs of Hydralisks. Tear transitioned to a double Robotics Bay build.

Though the Stargate was a new flavor, Tear held just as strong of a defense as his last game. Monster’s first attacked failed hard, and after retreating Tear counter-attacked and took out the Zerg’s fifth base.

But he used the time it took to bring down the Hatchery to replenish his troops, and surrounded and destroyed the Protoss army on its way back. Monster, still with a superior economy, managed to maintain the momentum and push Tear’s army down lower and lower until he GG’d with a 98 supply deficit. Monster stood up, walked to the FXOpen bench and returned the bad manner from the last game with a fake-out punch and a cocky smile, right at the players who just saw their teammate lose.

But whatever pride or relief Monster had earned team MVP probably wore off when  Koh “GuMiho” Byung Jae stepped up to bat.

The players joined the game and each played wringed his hands together: A hot pad in Monster’s hands and a signature towel in GuMiho’s. The Terran player opened up with a proxy Bunker rush, but after meeting Monster’s Spine Crawler at his natural expansion, he backed off.

Following the failed rush, GuMiho became visibly nervous. While his opponent pecked away calmly in the opposing booth, the FXOpen player began pounding his keys viciously with his mouth agape.

The next trick up his sleeve was a Hellion rush at the 10 minute mark, but Monster’s herds of Speedlings cornered them against a cliff and made quick work of them, as the Larvae back home spawned Mutalisks. After changing some of the Zerglings into Banelings, Monster hit a forward base hard, swallowing lots of Marines that were unsupported by Mespanacs or anything else.

With the losses piling, GuMiho became more and more nervous. He began building Thors and Siege tanks. Monster had not been spreading creep the way Zerg are expected to, but the combination of Mutalisks and speed-upgraded Zerglings and Banelings allowed his units to run circles around the Terran mechanical units despite.

But as GuMiho held on with his micro management, his upgrades steadily passed Monster’s, and as he got Siege Mode research and Thors out, it became clear that while both players were on three bases, Monster would not be able to compete if the game lasted much longer. And after frequent failed attacks against the Terran army, eventually Monster GG’d. And in keeping with the mood of the night, GuMiho reminded Monster of his loss with a bad manner knock on his booth’s window.

Hoping to bring down the Towel Terran before resorting to their freshly crowned GSL champion Sniper, team MVP send out Code S Terran player  Hwang “KeeN” Kyo Seok. After the calm, cool and collected “Commander Keen” took his seat and entered the game, he sent out an SCV almost immediately to build a Barracks near GuMiho’s base. After building a Refinery, the plan was to build Reapers close to his opponent’s base for a game-winning early assault. There was just one problem with the plan:

GuMiho opted for the exact same strategy.

Several minutes into the game, both players had Barracks by the other’s base, both had a single refinery to gather the gas needed for Reapers, and neither had done any scouting. At four minutes, GuMiho’s first Reaper finished and began picking off SCVs while his scout began constructing a Bunker in the base. Keen’s Reaper finished shortly after, but without the Bunker that GuMiho had he didn’t have the vision necessary to hop up the cliff into his opponent’s base. But the assault continued when KeeN’s second Reaper finished and both began kiting SCVs together.

“We could see a draw here, Wolf” said English commentator  Thomas “Khaldor” Kilian to his partner as both players lost SCVs quickly from their only bases. Both players lifted their Command Centers. KeeN moved his SCVs away from his base to accompany his Reapers, while GuMiho used what gas he had left to make Marauders and destroyed the Tech Lab attached to KeeN’s Barracks.

KeeN retreated to what was once GuMiho’s base that he had taken over with a Bunker, Command Center and Barracks. He stationed his Reapers in the Bunker to defend, but GuMiho’s Marauders were able to out-range them, standing safely from afar as they began beating down the Bunker. He used the SCVs to repair it, but he began running out of minerals.

Meanwhile, GuMiho landed his Command Center at an expansion and began gathering minerals. KeeN was harvesting only with MULEs, supply-blocked, while GuMiho rebuilt his economy. He built some Marines, moved in his forces and won the game.

The moment KeeN left the game, team FXOpen threw their hands in the air in celebration as their victorious teammate emerged from his booth and collected high fives. But things were quieter across the room at the MVP bench, where the team faced being down at the match point. The quietest of all was  Kwon “Sniper” Tae Hoon, MVP’s strongest player yet to be knocked out, who knew he would have to beat both GuMiho and another FXOpen player if his team was to win.

At last, and to nobody’s surprise, team MVP declared Sniper the next player as he stood up and left for the booth. Morale was low, but if MVP was on its last legs, Sniper was a good pair to be them. With a long history of kills this season at the GSTL, an all-kill of team SlayerS and his new GSL Code S Championship that turned one week old that day, the Zerg player was a force to be reckoned with.  

The game opened: GSL_Whirlwind, with both players occupying the right side of the map. Sniper began with some early scouting, built a quick Extractor and expanded to a third base at six minutes. GuMiho, meanwhile, built a few Hellions and prodded the Zerg bases. The Queens stopped them from getting in, but the scouting data was still valuable. He expanded to a third base at eight minutes while Sniper reacted to the Hellions with two Spine crawlers beside Evolution Chambers, with just a narrow gap between the buildings at the ramp.

GuMiho prodded again at this new wall, this time with 11 Hellions. But the shape of the wall worked in favor of GuMiho as it focused the Hellions’ attacks at the same spot where a Queen came to defend. Worse yet for Sniper, his new Spine Crawlers were still unfinished, leaving nothing but a small pack of Speedlings to defend. As they entered the base, GuMiho’s Infernal Pre-Igniter “Blue Flame” upgrade finished, giving each Hellion an additional +5 damage.

The Hellions rushed for the Drones. The Drones spanided and fled. FXOpen’s coach reached for a bottle of champagne in his bag, while DongRaeGu in the MVP dugout watched the game with his mouth open like a 12 year old boy watches a lingerie commercial. And the GOMTV staff brought out the trophy and GSL flag in anticipation of a victory soon to come.

But rather than chase the Drones, GuMiho began touring the Zerg base, blasting Zerglings and Queens but only killing seven Drones. Meanwhile, only down 20 supply, Sniper scouted the Terran’s five Factories building Thors, and he pinned a pack of Hellions agains ta cliff with Speedlings, killing them. Both players macro-managed their bases, GuMiho massing Thors and Siege Tanks while Sniper got Zerglings and Roaches and upgraded his Spire in preparation for Brood Lords.

“This is the money timing right now, that GuMiho’s hitting,” said  Wolf “Wolf” Schröder, referring to the time when all available Roach timing attacks have been denied but Sniper’s Brood Lords were not yet in the air. Sniper began sending packs of Roaches all around the map, searching for a weak spot in the Terran defenses. But GuMiho’s map coverage was too strong, and one by one he surrounded or chased each pack, killing them. By the time Sniper’s Brood Lords finished, GuMiho had a maxed Thor and Siege Tank army lining the creep fields, blowing apart his expansions. The Zerg player finally managed a good bunch of Brood Lords, but GuMiho shot them down with Vikings he had built in anticipation. And when the Vikings and Thors finally brought down the last Brood Lord, Sniper GG’d and conceded the match.

GuMiho burst from the booth to hugs and high fives, the whole room cheering as the coach opened his champaign. But he couldn’t enjoy it quite yet, for the players surrounded him and threw him into the air.

Both teams achieved remarkable victories in getting to the GSTL Finals, but in the end FXOpen took home the trophy for the second time this year of three championships. The proud GuMiho held the check for 20,000,000 Korean Won ($18,601, €14,136) as confetti fell from the ceiling.

“This is not the end,” said Coach  Lee “Choya” Hyung Seop. “We will continue to challenge and become the champion once again next season. “