Both LG-Incredible Miracle and Prime were able to edge out wins with 5-4 map scores in their first Premier division matches against StarTale and Team SCV Life respectively. They now meet in the third match of Group B, with the winner securing passage into the playoffs and a chance at the inaugural IPTL championship. Check out the rosters, notes on some of their key players, and a prediction below!
Lineups
LG-IM:
- Seed (P)
- MC (P) (from partnership with SK)
- NesTea (Z)
- Mvp (T)
- Happy (T)
- First (P)
- YongHwa (P)
- YoDa (T)
- True (Z)
- LosirA (Z)
- Ready (P)
Prime:
- MarineKing (T)
- Creator (P)
- ByuN (T)
- Maru (T)
- BBoong (Z)
- Classic (P)
- AriA (Z)
- Salmosa (Z)
Potential Starters
LG-IM: YongHwa (P) or First (P)
As he is overshadowed by two GSL champion-level Protoss players in Seed and MC, it is easy to forget just how good YongHwa actually is. YongHwa has already seen action this season, taking down Hack but falling to the up-and-coming StarTale Zerg Life. While those results aren't stunning, YongHwa is capable of much more. He has a recent all-kill to his name, coming out first in LG-IM's second match of GSTL 2012 Season 3 against Fnatic and defeating the entire lineup. Even more recently, he emerged as the surprise champion of the WCG 2012 Korean Nationals, defeating Prime's ace player MarineKing in the finals. If YongHwa can take some maps and force MarineKing out early, then take him down like he did at WCG, LG-IM will be sitting pretty for the series.
Prime: MarineKing (T)
Prime has been known to attempt the unorthodox strategy of throwing their star MarineKing into the fray as the first player to grab as many kills as he can before handing the reins over to support players, relying on Creator to clean up in the more traditional ace role. This very tactic was used in their first IPTL match against TSL, with MarineKing taking the first map over a more typical starting player in RagnaroK, forcing the TSL ace Symbol out in the second spot to try and stop MKP's momentum, which he did. Prime was somewhat lucky, as Maru managed to take down the TSL Zerg star, setting the table for Creator and Byun to finish off the opposition. If Prime tries this strategy again, it may not work so well: LG-IM is so stacked that they have the two most recent GSL finalists and a host of other stars, and with that depth, they do not risk much by sending a stud player out to stop a surprise starter in MarineKing.
Key Players
LG-IM: SK.MC (P)
The Boss Toss MC did exactly what he needed to do in the last clan war, coming in as the last player with a 4-4 score on the board to take out the resurgent Curious and win the match for his partner team. If he can continue to consistently put wins on the table, he will immediately become more reliable in team league play than either of the other multiple GSL champions in the stable for LG-IM. He still puts on amazing individual performances, placing in the top three of four major tournaments since the start of July. Also, the only person who stood between MC and the most recent GSL title, Seed, is now his quasi-teammate; these two Protoss superstars combined for four of the five map wins in their most recent team match, and do not be surprised if that trend continues moving forward.
Prime: ByuN (T)
Prime saved ByuN for the final spot in their last match, and he certainly pulled through, defeating a very strong TvT player in Polt before taking down Shine to secure a fifth map win and the match for his team. If Prime continues to use MarineKing in a starting role, ByuN will become very important in the success of the team; without their ace Terran player to anchor, Prime could find itself hurting for strong Terran play at the tail end of series if ByuN does not continue to produce. ByuN will have to handle more stressful situations than he may have been used to in team matches, but so far he has shown that he can step up to the task. He is a very capable player and a recent GSL semifinalist, so do not be surprised if he defeats any member of the LG-IM roster.
The Aces:
LG-IM: Seed (P)
Seed, though unable to close out the entire match for his team, satisfied expectations in the match against StarTale, taking out Life, Squirtle, and Parting--all amazing players--in succession before finally falling to Curious. This is the sort of play we should see from a GSL champion, and should he continue to play like this, Seed could very well secure LG-IM's advancement to the next round mostly by himself. His victories over Parting and Squirtle are a particularly good sign, as one of the major keys to defeating Prime is being able to effectively handle their Protoss beast, Creator. Seed should be considered a favorite in every PvP he plays, especially considering the aforementioned map wins against StarTale, as well as the fact that Seed won his GSL finals over another very good Protoss player in MC. Creator is no slouch, though, and put up a good fight against Seed.
Prime: Creator (P)
With the eccentric play style of MarineKing, Creator is a bit better of a fit for the traditional ace role on Prime. Whenever he can, he plays a methodical and patient macro style, very well tailored to the current metagame. The key to Creator's success is his ability to defend and keep his economy intact, while at the same time teching, upgrading, and building up an immensely strong late-game army, then knowing when and where to move his army once he has it. These strengths are most evident in his PvT, but with the two arguably strongest LG-IM players being Protoss, Creator will need to bring his PvP A-game to do his part for Prime. PvP is not known as a matchup where you can sit back and macro up; Creator will need to be able to defend all kinds of crazy aggression that either Seed or MC are more than capable of mustering. He will have a tough task ahead of him if both of the LG-IM Protoss studs are still available when he is sent out.
Prediction
LG-IM: 5 > Prime: 3
The outcome of this clan war will come down to three things: how many kills MarineKing secures if he does start, ByuN's performance, and whether Creator's PvP is strong enough. I think only one of these will go Prime's way. If LG-IM leads with YongHwa, he will bring down MarineKing again, taking out one of Prime's strongest players right off the bat and setting the tone for the whole match. ByuN will grab two or three kills, showing the strong play we expect from him, but Seed will come in to close. The GSL champion should take out both ByuN and Creator, all but claiming the win for LG-IM.
This match will take place on Wednesday, September 26th. Catch the live stream to see these two ridiculously strong teams have at it for the right to advance to the playoff bracket.
Source : ign[dot]com
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