The Global Starcraft 2 League (GSL) broadcasts monthly live competitions to determine the best players and teams within their competition. The GSL studio is based in Seoul (South Korea) and only the very finest Korean professional gamers (with a sprinkling of foreign talent) get the opportunity to appear in front of the Korean nation and the wider world.

The two players who emerged to contest the individual GSL July final were IMNestea and IMLosirA, both of whom were very familiar with one another, being Incredible Miracle (IM) teammates! They also mirror each other in that they both play Zerg and whilst they are both incredibly talented and successful, Nestea was considered the strong favourite pre-match. Not only had Nestea won the previous two GSL finals (May and June), but he hadn’t lost a single map in reaching the GSL July final! This consistent and unblemished record was a historic achievement and testament to a phenomenal player who threatens to create an incredible legacy if he can maintain his imperious form going into the World Cyber Games (the Olympics of eSports) later this year.

Pre-match

Etiquette, courtesy and respect are common virtues in Asia and these qualities were clearly on display during the pre-match interview between the two players. The fact they are teammates also explained how they so effortlessly bantered back and forth with one another just moments away from their clash.

Losira, playing in his first GSL final, joked that against anyone other than Nestea he would have felt nervous. Rising to the challenge, Nestea replied that he would soon get nervous once he went two sets down (best of 7 format). Losira went on to suggest that if he was to beat Nestea (nicknamed the ‘King of Zerg’) that maybe he should be considered the best Zerg player in the world. Nestea, alluding to his impressive recent success, replied that Losira would have to do more than win just one final before he could consider claiming that honour. Nestea went on to say that, if he won the first game, he would win the final either 4-0 or 4-1.

Behind all the banter it was clear Losira saw himself as a confident underdog, whilst Nestea was just plain confident!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1....!

Game 1

The early divergent tech path between the two players was when Losira went for a baneling nest, in contrast to Nestea’s roach warren. Nestea picked off a queen and also moved to get a force of mutalisks together and utilised their mobility to force Losira to cancel his 2nd expansion. Losira then burrowed his infestors and sneaked them forwards towards Nestea’s natural and unleashed a horde of infested terrans to wreak havoc. It was a great aggressive move, but Nestea launched a counter attack and his more effective unit mix ultimately proved decisively overwhelming.

Game 2

Nestea went for a slightly earlier spawning pool and harassed Losira’s mineral line, briefly forcing drones to abandon their mining, but he didn’t achieve any kills before being driven off. Nestea subsequently got his expansion down earlier, harassed a little, before later taking the offensive with a major roach army, which Losira barely held with the help of some spine crawlers. Nestea regrouped and with some surprising gooping from his overseers (a tactic not often seen – which halts larva production and research upgrades) saw Losira fall behind. When Nestea returned with his 2nd major force, accompanied by a strong group of banelings, a massive clash erupted. It was close, but the gooping proved decisive and Nestea just about managed to overwhelm Losira.

Game 3

Nestea went for a roach warren, whilst Losira went for a baneling nest. Nestea took advantage of the fact that Losira’s baneling nest wasn’t quite ready and ran in some zerglings to harass, before being forced to retreat. Losira decided to use a nydus worm to infiltrate Nestea’s base, forcing him to pull back all his units to defeat this unexpected and most unwelcome encroachment. Nestea subsequently forced a cancellation on a 2nd nydus worm, before a 3rd and final one from Losira was taken apart and Losira had to accept that for all his aggression, he had in fact lost.

Game 4

3-0 up, needing only one more game to be crowned champion, Nestea obviously decided to be a little cheeky in Game 4. He went for a super quick spawning pool, and together with a force of drones he attacked ruthlessly early, taking Losira by surprise and forcing a decisive early victory.

Congratulations to the GSL July Champion – Nestea!