The GosuGamers staff predicts the outcome of the GSI Finals
LordWeird - " I am predicting Stork over Flash 3-1, and for a variety of reasons. Yes, Flash has been playing very well lately. Yes, Flash has beaten several players some may consider better than Stork. However, Stork is arguably the best Protoss in Korea today. Sure, Flash beat Anytime. But Since July of last year, Flash is 2-6 against Stork. And other than that, which huge Protoss has he beaten lately? Rock?
If Stork can force flash into early-game micro battles, he will have no problem at all winning this. Flash will be lucky to win two games this time. Stork has played a lot of PvT and has beaten long-time veteran players like Berserker and Sea most recently. Flash is simply not prepared for this monster Protoss and his superior game sense and experience."
Phantom[xz] - "Again this is a tournament, and tournaments always have surprises, I see Stork coming away with 3 - 2.
I agree, I think stork will take an early lead, that along with experience which I don't think Flash has in a major tournament to really make that big first step. But then again on Katrina, I mean Flash has shown that he can win on that map and I do believe he will try his best to win on it in the second round of the match.
cYan - "I've not been too impressed by Stork's PvT lately. I have loved Flash's games lately though, he's been really impressive. That being said, Stork is a more stable player and I also believe he is better than Flash if they both play their best. The maps are also very much in favor of Stork. Baekmagoji and Katrina favors toss in PvT quite heavily and i think Stork will take it 3-1. Flash 1-0 then Stork all the way.On the issue of maps...
Blue Storm:cYan: Blue Storm is balanced (in the PvT matchup) and I don't really see the map as a factor in those games, although Stork usually plays well on 2 player maps, especially Blue Storm I think.
Phantom[xz]: stork has the most recent win against Flash on Blue Storm right now. I think stork will take this one early in the match. This being a fairly balanced match up here I think the games on this map will be split between the two. If Flash loses the first time on Blue Storm he won't lose again on it.
LordWeird: Well, to me, Blue Storm is a very balanced map, and Is up for grabs either way. It will probably be decided in the very first minutes, if we assume there is no cheese/critical errors. And even if there is cheese, from either side, we can expect the normal Brood War player to be able to tell who is going to win very early, probably before the ten minute mark. Flash's wins will come on Blue Storm, if at all. I'm predicting he wins game 1 on this map, but loses the rest of his games like Cyan mentioned.
KatrinacYan: Katrina, I cannot for the life of me remember a lot of times Stork having gone carriers on that map, but it must be my bad memory acting up again. There's just so little room for a Terran to make mistakes and Flash is a bit of a wreckless player, so I kinda have to agree that Stork will take all the games on that map.
LordWeird: As for Katrina, as Cyan mentioned, it is fairly common knowledge that it is a Protoss favored map. If you recall Berserker versus Stork last week, it speaks for itself.
Phantom[xz]: I like to play devil's advocate and just say, I believe in you Flash, I want stork to win, but I believe in you.
Baekmagoji:cYan: Lets get rid on this map please. If I'm not mistaken it's not balanced in any MUs. Frankly i hate it and think this is where at least one of the players will pull out a cheese build. I think Stork has the superior micro and that it's not the best situation for Flash on this map. The records are TvZ: 11-3, ZvP: 8-4, PvT: 17-8 according to the TL.net database.
Phantom[xz]: I've always hated maps with two geysers at the main. It will always be imbalanced in any match up, I don't care what kind of map it is, an island map, a huge map, it's just not right.
The Tables...
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| CYAN'S GAMES: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Stork | < |  Flash | @ Blue Storm | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Stork | > | Flash | @ Katrina | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Stork | > | Flash | @ Baekmagoji | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Stork | > | Flash | @ Blue Storm | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Stork | 3 - 1 | Flash | FINAL | |||||||||||||||||||||
The tournament...
cYan: Tasteless is really good, you have to consider that he has to cater to everyone, including those who know little about SC and the GOMTV people etc. He's awesome, just keep it up and get that OSL/MSL commentary gig i say. The tournament overall has been great, although i would have liked to see some other maps. Also I, and many with me i think, would have liked to see certain players do a lot better. Can't wait for the final, hoping for some really great games. If i have one criticism of gomtv it is that they don't allow you to stream vods in fulls screen, although there are ways around that. Otherwise, when's the next one starting?
LordWeird: I really love this whole thing. Bringing Korean Progaming to the foreign scene has always been difficult because of the language problems. However, now that they have brought a familiar face in Tasteless, hundreds of people are getting to enjoy these games on a different level. Hopefully many will support this so Brood War and E-Sports can grow. I've noticed the underground commentators and uploaders haven't been noticed. So I encourage everyone who enjoys high-level Brood War game play as much as I do to show as much support to GOM so they recognize how much their product is seen!
Phantom[xz]: Before this I have never liked Tasteless's commentating. Despite having to cater to everyone, the attitude that he took and language was something that I thought hindered the progression of this game as a sport. One thing I think he did okay was emphasizing the technical aspects of this game. although he can't strike as much emotion as the Korean commentators I think the did fairly well. I think fairly early on he changed his format from making bad jokes to concentrating more on the game. He was nervous at times and you can't blame him for that, I appreciate his work and would enjoy listening to him cast again, but I think he needs a partner. Gretech has done the fans of StarCraft a huge favour in doing this tournament. I have no idea how this can continue though without mass support of this type of tournament. My only hope is that our numbers showed and that a format can be found to help spread the word of what GOMTV has done. Definitely a must, if they do this again I believe every gaming magazine in the world needs a nudge on the elbow to let them know about this.
Thanks to all who have helped supported this tournament!
