[BachHo]

In FrOzean We Trust
A Look at STX SouL in the Winners League

Few teams can say they rival the best in the league like STX can. With a bench deeper then the Great Lakes, three stars in Hwasin, Calm, and Kal, and Tossgirl on the side cheering them on, how could they ever fail? We take a dive in the STX pool today and check out the depth charts to see how deep this squad really is.

Splash!

O

O

O

Level 1: The Bench

With a bench like STX's, you almost don't even need the real players on a good day. Things start with the semi B-team lineup, which includes Bogus, Last, and Notice, three players who can definitely pull wins out of the blue. Notice in particular is a huge threat in the Winners League format where he was able to all-kill once last season. Last proved to be a great, unexpected sniper in times of need, and may be called to duty once again.

Next, we have the real snipers, Modesty and Shuttle. Modesty was a major contributor to the team last season when Zergs were in fashion. He provided a stable ZvZ that led the team to many victories and ace match opportunities, even taking a few for himself. Shuttle has silently become a Protoss and Zerg killer for the team. His overall PvZ record is an outstanding 9-2, one of the best around. He's 8-2 in his last ten for both matchups, and that includes characters like ZerO, BeSt, JangBi, and more!

Finally, we have the "fourth men"; players that will most likely take up the fourth spot in the team's lineup week in and week out - namely hero and FrOzen. hero was once regarded as one of the best ZvP'ers for a time being, and is still capable in the matchup. His ZvZ and ZvT are major anomalies though; he's proven to be relatively weak in both, but also capable of defeating the best when the stars align. FrOzen is an even bigger anomaly, capable of doing anything and everything, good or bad in the field of battle. He's gotten the go-ahead as of late though, for his sheer experience. His TvT is sharp enough to keep up with most of the mid-range Terrans in the league, which is more or less all he needs to be doing for SouL - a team that is a bit weak in the matchup. His Week 1 takedown of Canata was more then enough to satisfy the team's expectations.

FrOzen: Coach! Coach! Coach! Coach. Coach! Coach!!!! Coach! Coach! Coach! Coach!!!!! Coach! Coach! Coach! Coach! Coach....

Coach: What!!!!!?

FrOzen: I won! Tee kekekekekeke. -runs into a field and prances-

O

O

O

stroke, stroke, stroke...

Level 2: The Great Red Sniper, Hwasin

If his TvP rose to the occasion more often, Hwasin could easily be considered one of the top five Terrans in the league. Just looking at his TvT and TvZ though, I'd say the claim is still viable. While his stats don't scream 'amazing', Hwasin has consistently performed well in the two matchups, taking down several high-quality players including Mind, Shine, and Luxury. It often is easy to cry mediocre when watching Hwasin and factoring in his statistics, but the matter of the fact is he's always been great at these two matchups and is a threat against any opponent he faces, young or old. Out of STX's big three, Hwasin tends to get the least play time, but he makes it count when called to duty, and that's really all STX expects out of him. As long as he avoids having to face a dragon out in the field, he'll continue doing what he's always done for STX - cashing in.

Squirtle.
Squirtle, squirtle?

O

O

O

Level 3: Coffee with Kal

The Dragon still in action.

Kal has been doing something that he's failed to do in past seasons: play consistent StarCraft. Aside from his total destruction at the hands of Jaedong, Kal's play has been up-to-par with what everyone expects from a player of his caliber. His PvT has been spot on, one of the finest in the league. His mixture of strong standard play and creative mid-game tactics have really allowed him to excel over his opponents. Terrans have to bring something truly exceptional to the table to take down Kal at his current PvT level. In PvP, he's been first class all year long. He's long been a top-notch in this matchup, even against Stork and Bisu.

Jaedong trounced on Kal's PvZ during the MSL semifinals, leaving many to believe that Kal was struggling in the matchup. The reality was that Jaedong was simply playing on a whole 'nother level in that series. I believe no other player - not even Terran or Zerg - outside of Flash could have touched the Tyrant in that semifinal. Putting that whole series aside, Kal is still one of the best in the land here as well. He opts for a standard game, and excels at it. With the exception of the absolute premier players in the league, I fully believe that Kal has reached the peak of his career and is playing the best StarCraft we've ever seen from him. The question now is whether or not that will ever be enough to surpass the current grandmasters of the game. Unfortunately, my gut says no. He's proven time and time again that he lacks that final push needed to overcome the big three of professional gaming. For that reason, he remains number two in the STX roster.

O

O

O

paddle, paddle, paddle... (I'm on a boat!)

Level 4: Clamming with Calm

Cool as a cucumber. Sometimes is one too...

After Calm's recent success in the starleagues, STX decided to put their faith in him, and for the most part he's given them their money's worth. He's even started to win ace matches along the way, something he simply could not do a season ago. Calm has never been an incredibly talented macro player; he's smart, and uses his intelligence to win games. Because of this, he does do as well in a Winners League format. That may seem ridiculous considering he all-killed Samsung KHAN last season, but he played them at a time where everyone was struggling on the team, so I wouldn't call his all-kill last season an impressive win. He only played about average in the '09 Winners League, hulling in a 9-6 record - which is respectable, but not A-Class material even compared to his partner-in-crime Kal.

Calm has improved by leaps-and-bounds since then, however, reaching new heights in his ZvZ which led him to a MSL title, tightening up his ZvP which has gone undefeated in Proleague, and as we all saw against Flash, has definitely grown in ZvT. So far in '10, his ZvZ and ZvP have kept on pace, but his ZvT has faltered since his loss to Flash. He's still SouL's number one option though and has become the team's anchor unlike last season where he was thrown out first or second; the change allows him to better prepare for things to come and play more of a sniper role which suits him just fine. At 2-1 in Winners League, Calm seems to have settled into the idea, and as long as STX maintains this consistent position for him, it should prove to be a comfortable ride for both Calm and STX - should being a key word though, as we start thinking about the team as a whole.

Level 5: SouL Searching

holds help sign up

O

O

O

STX has always been regarded as a deep team, but when July stepped back early in 2009 and left the team to veteran Kal and rising star Calm, STX lost an extremely valuable piece of the team that has since been a burden for them - an official ace. Calm has been hyped as the new face of STX, but when it comes down to it he's fallen in the pressure cooker that is the ace match time and time again. While he has had more success over the last few weeks, he still hasn't reached the kind of star status that SouL has needed. Kal has been all business when called to duty, but lacks the ability to constantly compete against the very top echelon of players - in particular Terran. This weakness is a major setback for a team that is so close to perfection. STX will always be able to clobber the 60% or so teams in the league with lesser star players, and maybe even the top 40% on a good day, but when it comes to that all-important match - like the playoffs last season - they simply don't have that one person that can man up when needed. Just a look at their end of Round 2 record here:

Thanks to Revo for the chart.

...shows their inconsistencies against teams like KT Rolster, MBC, KHAN, and T1, all of which are loaded with these major players. There are only two outs I see for STX if they are to overcome this problem: either chose between Calm and Kal and have them become a permanent ace until they figure out how to do the job, or designate hardcore snipers from match-to-match, using their depth to out-cannon teams. CJ was able to do this in '09 with players like sKyHigh preparing specialty builds against Jaedong. STX will need to find a way to do the same, or else they'll just be another quarter-finalists dropout.

Obligatory End of STX article Tossgirl picture.

[DejaVu119]

wow Backho, you actually make Frozean sound like he's decent... impressive!
*grumbles to self about Frozean's total and utter uselessness"

[BachHo]

wow Backho, you actually make Frozean sound like he's decent... impressive!
*grumbles to self about Frozean's total and utter uselessness"

I tried.
*grumbles to self about Frozean's almost total and utter uselessness"

[538]

In Kal you should trust:)

and what do you mean he's always been top-notch in the PvP matchup? :-p

This post has been edited by 538: Feb 3 2010, 07:17 PM

[BachHo]

In Kal you should trust:)

and what do you mean he's always been top-notch in the PvP matchup? :-p

Kal's PvP in starleague play at the very least has always been high-caliber, at least top five since late 2008 imo (In the grand scheme of things, that may not be saying much considering the quality of Protoss). I've always put my money on his PvP when it comes to MSL/OSL play though, you of all people should know! He's has great mindset for the matchup (not counting last nite).

[538]

Now always or since late 2008?:-p He has been around for two years before that already, and regardless of his play (i didnt see much of his early pvps, let alone remember any), his results were pretty abismal, he was always struggling to get it above 50% winrate, until around the second quarter of 2009.
Regardless, he is indeed stellar in PvP lately, it just sucks to see PvZ become his weakest matchup

[BachHo]

Now always or since late 2008?:-p He has been around for two years before that already, and regardless of his play (i didnt see much of his early pvps, let alone remember any), his results were pretty abismal, he was always struggling to get it above 50% winrate, until around the second quarter of 2009.
Regardless, he is indeed stellar in PvP lately, it just sucks to see PvZ become his weakest matchup

Oh I see what you mean. What I meant in the article is that he's generally had a good PvP since he's become a notable name in the league, which I believe is late 2008. I generally don't count periods when they were rookie-ish into the grand scheme of things, but I'll correct that now.

[funnybananaman]

cool bubbles!

and since last & stuff are B-teamers but still get occasional playing time on STX, and idra just finished #2 in an in house CJ b-team tournament, might we see ever idra in a proleague/winners league booth?

[DejaVu119]

not while he's in tsl thats for sure

[538]

cool bubbles!

and since last & stuff are B-teamers but still get occasional playing time on STX, and idra just finished #2 in an in house CJ b-team tournament, might we see ever idra in a proleague/winners league booth?

They dont even submit him to the lineups in the Dream League (B league), so somehow I doubt that :-p

[Youma]

STX could just order an ace player from T1's cloning laboratory..

[DejaVu119]

STX could just order an ace player from T1's cloning laboratory..

no need. calm will be a fine ace in time.