SC2Improve Winter League Finals Day - Preview
It is here. The second SC2Improve Winter League is about to draw to a close after over three months of hard fought competition. It has been an incredible journey which has seen new records for SC2Improve content and a stronger player base than I could have imagined. We've had upsets, crazy games, story lines and more - but now it comes down to just four players.
If you had asked me at the start of the RO16 to pick the 4 players who would be playing on Finals day I would have scored 1/4 - maybe 2/4 depending how I was feeling. But Patience didn't make it. Neither did Arthur nor DIMAGA. SeleCT and JonnyREcco also fell to the hands of their opponents while Adonminus and Tassadar did not live up to expectations.
Solar is the definite favourite of the four who remain. The Samsung Galaxy Zerg comes out in Proleague frequently for his team and performs well, sometimes even as the ace player. He has rocketed through the tournament so far without much opposition and many will think he won't meet much more opposition here on Finals Day. We have never had a Korean player win an SC2Improve event - will Solar be the one to change that fact?
His semi-final opponent will be uThermal who is fortunate to have only Zergs to play against with TvZ being his strongest match-up. His ZvT has looked unstoppable, beating TomikuS 4-0 in the Groups and JonnyREcco 3-0 in the RO8 before heading to IEM where he took down fellow semi-final player Tefel with a 2-0. Is this momentum going to be enough for him to challenge against Solar though?
Tefel is our other foreign hope here in the semi-finals. The Polish Zerg is a powerhouse when it comes to online cups, playing in and performing well in almost all of them. He really could cause quite a stir here and he will definitely be looking to place better than his 3rd place finish in the SC2Improve Summer League 2013. Can Tefel become the master of another online cup? His ZvZ will have to be strong to carry him through.
Armani completes the Finals-Day Four. He is another Zerg player from Samsung Galaxy - but is much less well known than Solar. He has had alright performances in some online cups such as ZOTAC and the Reddit Open - but doesn't go far as often as Tefel, uThermal and Solar do in similar cups. Armani is my underdog of the final four - but I find it hard to see him winning the whole thing unless he has an outstanding day.
The matches are set to start at 1700 CET on Thursday 20th and I hope everyone will be able to come and join us for what will hopefully be some fantastic games to wrap up what has been another insanely fun league to run and be a part of. See you tomorrow!