IEST: History speaks for ToD

Moon seems to be in great shape. A bronze medal from World Cyber Games is something he should take great pride in. Coming to the IEST as the reigning champion, many held the Night Elf Korean as the top contender for the title. But as the journey went on, the "fifth race" was defeated, not once but twice. HoT was on fire, and took down Moon both in the first group stage (2-0) and the second group stage (2-1). Despite that, Moon advanced to the playoffs, where he eventually took down his nemesis; Sky in a 3-1 score. Revenge is sweet.

Looking at ToD's performance, his only loss came from playing Sky in the second group stage. Other than that, he has taken scalps from FoV (twice), XyLigan, Sai, and lastly HoT. Then ToD took on HoT in the semi final, in which the Human Horror was too much for HoT to handle. ToD trampled over the Ukranian elf in three games straight, and HoT's chances to win the tournament went down the flush.

To get a grip on why this match is so special, let us quote a » previous hype-up piece, by Zerter.
- "Clashes between ToD and Moon have regularly been the topic of much hot-blooded debate. They've often been used as examples in discussions about the state of balance between the Human and the Night Elf Match-up. An entire map has been redesigned and WCG as well as ESWC have had rule changes as a result of clashes between these two players."

Their very first clash in offline events dates back to late 2004, where the two played in the OnGameNet Invitational. A best of one match won by Moon, back then in team One. Moon then continued his winning streak over ToD in the World Esports Games Season 1, another 1-0 in the list for Moon. However, in December 19 of 2005, ToD claimed his first win over Moon after defeating him in the China Internet Games. And so it went, back and forth, one of the memorable encounters being the match in the Warcraft 3 World war; where ToD said he hadn't practiced at all and still the game went for the full five games, in one of the best games that league has ever witnessed. Still Moon was not destined to give up his dominance there, so after ToD made it 2-1, Moon just walked all over his human armada in the next two games. That would be Until the Blizzard World wide Invitational 2007.

There, ToD's reign started. Taking down Moon with 2-0 on the Korean's home field, was then later followed by a 1-0 victory in StarsWar 2007, plus two consecutive triumphs in the Chinese Pro Gaming League (PGL), defeating him 2-0 and 2-1. In the end of the tournament, Moon could break the losing streak by defeating ToD 3-0 when it mattered the most - the semi finals.

Their last clash was in World Cyber Games only 16 days ago. ToD » defeated Moon using mass tanks on Terenas Stand. The group stage match meant that ToD came out on top, while Moon had to settle for the runner-up title.

So who will come out on top? Moon proved strong versus Humans, taking down Sky with 3-1, which should make ToD a tad bit nervous. But ToD took down HoT in a clear 3-0 score in the semi finals, a HoT, who a day before defeated Moon in two best of threes. Is it safe to say that it was a better performance from Moon to defeat Sky than ToD's defeating HoT, considering Sky outcolded HoT in the bronze match? Not really. It's a matter of playstyle, nerves and thousand other aspects one needs to look at.

Statistically, ToD has the upper hand over Moon in offline events, but only with three games up. For me to foretell who will end up as the champion, I'll have to recur to the Magic 8-Ball.

Will Moon defeat ToD tomorrow morning?
- Cannot predict now...

D'oh!