The first season of the Global StarCraft II League (GSL) in 2017 has concluded. Kim “Stats” Dae Yeob won a tense 4-2 matchup, securing his first GSL championship and a place at the World Championship Series (WCS) Global Finals later this year.
Stats Takes His First GSL Championship
After a long, challenging journey this season, Stats defeated Eo “soO” Yoon Su and won his first GSL championship. Stats has placed in the top four at eight different premier events over the course of his career without being able to secure a first-place finish. While he’s proven himself a very talented Protoss player with a fluid, reactive style, he’s had a hard time taking that exceptional play to the next level and winning a championship. His second-place finish at Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Katowice earlier this year only helped to solidify his persistent runner-up status. That may have been the motivation he needed to play his best, give his opponent no room, and clinch the win last weekend.
Stats is known to play standard games instead of going for early aggression. He reacts to his enemy and transitions to whichever unit composition and strategy will give him the edge. His first game against soO is emblematic of this—Stats noticed soO’s quick Spawning Pool, and prepared himself for early harassment or maybe even an all-in attack. With great scouting and preparation, Stats refused to give up an early advantage and won that game despite taking early damage from Zerglings. Stats stuck to this classic style to take most of his games, but he did show us some unorthodox play as well.
In the fourth game, Stats felt comfortable enough with his 3-0 lead to try a proxy Stargate and create four Oracles quickly. With so many Oracles at his disposal, he kept dropping Stasis Wards on soO’s mineral lines—a strategy we haven’t seen from top Protoss players so far this season. He continued using this strategy throughout the series to great effect, delaying the Zerg’s mining time significantly while pressuring other areas of the map. He never strayed too far from his standard strategies, however, and he took the series with some of the smoothest Protoss play of the year so far.
Another Valiant Effort for soO
This result is likely a hard pill for soO to swallow. This is the fifth time he’s managed to make it to the GSL finals and finished in second place. Most players would be devastated after just one dropped final, but soO keeps upping his game and coming back for more—and that’s good news, because there are plenty of opportunities left in this year’s WCS season. soO is currently in fourth place in the official WCS Global Standings, and with Jun ‘TY’ Tae Yang and Stats now guaranteed spots at the Global Finals, it’s likely that soO will be there based on his point earnings alone. With the GSL championship being so elusive, though, it should be no surprise if he redoubles his efforts to make another run for it in GSL Season 2.
It was an excellent season for soO leading up to the finals, and his set against Stats was no different. He mostly played his standard, comfortable playstyle, and he didn’t let Stats take any easy wins. When Stats opened with a very aggressive air opening in the fourth game, soO responded with a huge number of Hydralisks to shut down the pressure and brute force his way into Stats’s base victoriously. In the next game, Stats relentlessly harassed soO’s base, and followed that up with a potent and well-timed attack employing Immortals and a bunch of Sentries. With impeccable Ravager micro, soO decimated the attacking force and crushed his opponent with a brutal counterattack.
While Stats took the final game with some remarkable Psionic Storms and great positioning, soO still has plenty of opportunities to continue refining his play throughout the year. Look for soO to make another run for a championship with his incredible Zerg play in the upcoming GSL Super Tournament beginning April 6, as well as during GSL Season 2 beginning April 19.