Both StarTale and Team SCV Life come into their IPTL showdown needing a win to avoid a 0-2 start in their groups, putting the loser in a desperate situation. The winner will join Prime at 1-1 with a good shot at making it into the playoff stage. Let’s take a look at how these two juggernauts match up against each other!
Lineups
StarTale:
- Curious (Z)
- PartinG (P)
- Squirtle (P)
- Bomber (T)
- Life (Z)
- SuHoSin (Z)
- Virus (T)
- Hack (T)
- AcE (P)
- TREME (P)
- Sound (T)
- Avenge (P)
- Harrier (T)
TSL:
- Symbol (Z)
- Polt (T)
- Shine (Z)
- Revival (Z)
- HyuN (Z)
- inori (P)
- RagnaroK (Z)
- Cyrano (P)
- Punisher (T)
Potential Starters
StarTale: SuHoSin (Z)
In a recent GSL broadcast, Wolf and Khlador perfectly described the play style of StarTale's quirkiest player; they called him "predictably unpredictable." SuHoSin is capable of pulling off every all-in in the Zerg playbook, and will choose that sort of build in nearly every game in all three matchups. This is a particularly strong sort of player to have in a team league scenario, as there is absolutely no way an entire roster can prepare themselves for such a unique player. SuHoSin may have fallen entirely out of the GSL recently, but you don't necessarily need to be a top form player if you catch an opponent with a two-base all in. He is very, very dangerous.
TSL: Shine (Z), Revival (Z), Ragnarok (Z)
In their last IPTL match, TSL sent out their relatively unknown Zerg Ragnarok in the leadoff spot, where he met an untimely end at the hands of Prime's super-starter MarineKing. Though we could easily see RagnaroK take that spot again, TSL honestly has a number of mid-tier Zerg players to throw at StarTale at match's start, notably Shine and Revival. All three of these players are solid, but by no means great players, who can surprise with a small win streak if given the opportunity. However, it will be tough goings against StarTale for any of them, and unless TSL surprises us by sending either Symbol, Polt, or HyuN out first, I do not expect the TSL starter to make much of an impact.
Key Players
StarTale: Life (Z), Curious (Z)
Honestly, the StarTale lineup has so many strong players that it's hard to really narrow down to a small number of impact players, but I will specifically point out two Zergs with very different stories. Life is the new kid on the block, and by that I mean he is literally a 15 year old kid. However, most teenagers can't say they made it into the Code S round of eight before they learned to shave. If he can continue his current GSL run while making an impact in this team league, Life could very well steal the ace spot from Squirtle. Curious, on the other hand, has made a career out of setting himself up for great expectations, then letting us down, ever since his Code A championship run last year. We'll have to see which Curious shows up in this match: the seemingly invincible Zerg monster, or the forgettable player who just can't do quite enough to make his mark.
TSL: HyuN (Z), Polt (T)
Fans of the IPL will know just how good HyuN is. In the words of Boromir, one does not simply win the IPL Fight Club eight times in a row, but this TSL Zerg has done just that, taking out world-class players like Squirtle, aLive, and most recently GuMiho. Anyone capable of performing a feat like that stands more than a chance of doing some real damage in a clan war, even against the stacked StarTale lineup. Polt, on the other hand, is the player who will not go away. Very few Starcraft 2 players have been able to maintain the same sort of success over the same period of time, but Polt has weathered the ever-shifting metagame with his nearly peerless micro and multitasking abilities. As a Terran among the swarm, Polt is heavily relied on by TSL to take out opponents who represent a threat to the Zerg core of the team.
The Aces
StarTale: Squirtle (P)
He may have been knocked down into Code A recently, but Squirtle should certainly be back, as he is still in every conversation about who is the best Protoss player in Starcraft 2. Very few players bring the same mix of theory and execution to the table as the StarTale Protoss. Squirtle is very difficult to prepare for, especially in a team league scenario, as he has a build for just about anything against anyone. Unfortunately for StarTale and Squirtle, TSL has a ton of Zerg players, and a Zerg has knocked Squirtle out of his two most recent Code S tournaments, and one of those Zergs was TSL's own Symbol. While this is not a good omen to be sure, do not be surprised if Squirtle can buck this trend, as he is still a fantastic player.
TSL: Symbol (Z)
With another strong Code S run, Symbol has continued to make his case for being the best Zerg player in the world. All of his matchups could be tested against top-level players, with his biggest test likely being a ZvZ against Life, closely followed by Squirtle. However, I still think Symbol should be considered the strongest player on either of these lineups at this point in time. Judging by their recent encounters, I give Symbol the slight edge over Squirtle if they play a set, and if he can take down the Protoss stud for the opposing team, TSL will gain a significant edge.
Prediction
StarTale: 5 > TSL: 4
With players of this caliber, if anyone has a particularly good day, they can utterly dominate the other team. That makes it almost impossible to call a match like this, but I'm going to predict that while Symbol will do quite well, Life will play better and play a huge part in a StarTale win. The up and coming Zerg superstar can beat anyone in ZvZ, and that is a very useful trait to have against TSL.
Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com
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