[SPL`15] SPL Awards: The Best of 2015 Text by TL.net ESPORTS Graphics by shiroiusagi Another year, another amazing season of Proleague. The world's most important team league acted as a barometer for the Korean scene all year long, and it supplied us with some of the best games from the entire year. Suffice to say that we're all excited for the 2016 season, but it's time we looked back at 2015 and recognized the best of the best from last season.



Best Backup SKT T1 SKT T1

Of all the awards this season, this was the most difficult one to finalize. Eventually, we decided that it was, more or less, an 8-way tie for the best backup player in Proleague. The entire SKT T1 roster earns this award for their holistic approach to Proleague, a far cry from their "superstars only" method from 2014. SKT T1 was the only team in the postseason that did not have a single player with 20 wins (soO was at 19), but 5 of their players notched more than 10 wins each. Bench warmers Sorry, Billowy, and Impact even saw some time in the booth. Only Dark managed more than 1 ace appearance during the regular season, with INnoVation, soO, Classic and Dream each earning their shots.





With no clear super ace and a team that went 7- or 8-deep, SKT T1 was a nightmare to prepare for all year long. Everyone deserves a pat on the back for their title winning season, and oov should receive an applause for managing such a well-stocked team.





Best New Signing ByuL

INnoVation Runner-up:

Finding a diamond-in-the-rough is one of the best ways to grow a team, but signing a potential ace player makes an immediate impact that every team pines for during the off-season. When Incredible Miracle called it quits after the 2014 season, one player was expected to have all the other teams begging for his signature: ByuL.





As IM's only player in double figures that season, everyone knew that ByuL had the potential to deliver—and even develop further—on a more stable team. That lucky team ended up being CJ Entus, and he quickly filled the void that the departures of EffOrt and Hydra had left. With a record of 21-16, ByuL proved that he was worthy of being considered one of the best zergs in Korea. He was integral to a CJ team that looked alarmingly thin all season long, and his 2 ace match wins proved that he was worthy of selection ahead of herO.



While INnoVation more than proved his worth for SKT T1, his impact was dulled by his team's balanced approach. Without ByuL, CJ would have likely finished the season outside the playoffs.





Best Ace Maru

and Rogue Runners-up: Losira and

Everything remarkable about Maru has been said long ago. Arising from humble origins in the first ever GSL, and subsequently spending most of the succeeding years rotting in the obscurity of the Gerrard's roost, the current face of Jin Air exploded into the scene with a 4-2 upset over Rain. However, his form, consisting of sublime micromanagement and top-tier mechanics, then was still in its adolescent stage. Ironically, his style would fully take shape in the worst days of his race, when he was the standard bearer of Terran when Terran made up only 3-4 players in Code S.



This style would fully manifest itself as the Little Psychopath played for JA in Proleague. In the Proleague of 2014, he would be the best player, having a 30-19 record, and effectively serve as the mainstay of his team. Retaining that role in 2015, Maru would further demonstrate that a JA without him is no JA at all, obtaining another astounding record of 27-16, with his notable distinction as a monster in TvP, losing only 3 out 17 TvPs played.





But what makes Maru the ace for his team must be his consistency. With the exception of a strangely poor Round 4, Maru played extraordinarily well in the preceding matches. What is more is that his consistency stands amidst a wildly inconsistent team, with sOs and Rogue as the 2 next-best players, both of whom have showed a wild gamut of performances throughout the year. Without Maru to pick up the tab when these 2 fail, as they have shown to do, what who would JA rely on? The answer is no one. With Maru, with a top 3 terran and a master of micro on their side, JA cemented its status as a top team. That is why he is the best ace of 2015.





Best Sniper in TvT BrAvO in TvT

in PvP Runner-up: Hush in PvP

One of the most common knocks on players is the label of "one matchup wonder". There are certain players that just excel against one race more than the others, and it can be both inspiring and infuriating in equal measure. While most of these types of players struggle to make an impact in individual leagues, a lucky bracket can often lead to deep runs—which many view as undeserved. Such narrow mastery does have its merits, and it is in Proleague that these types of players truly shine.



For the 2015 season, no other player displayed such mastery of a matchup as BravO. The Samsung backup played only 16 games, but managed to win 7 of his 9 TvTs against the likes of Bbyong, Flash, Maru and sKyHigh. The latter three players count among the best in the terran mirror, yet BravO deftly navigated against superior players to earn this award.



BravO's talent for the mirror had already been known since 2014, but back then, many of his games featured one- or two-base timing attacks. While prepared builds are fun to watch in Proleague, many felt that perhaps the pudgy wonder would eventually be figured out. Not to be pigeonholed, BravO proved his skill in drawn out TvTs in 2015. He flattened both Dream and sKyHigh on Vaani in lengthy games, yet the best example was when he bested Maru in a mech against mech slugfest on Cactus Valley. The 32 minute game was a true test of endurance, and the Samsung terran showed that he was good enough to fight in the trenches with the best of them.



BravO may never crack the lineup on some better teams, but he should be instrumental for Samsung in 2016 as the young team aims to upset the hegemony of the top 4.





Best One-Time

Build

The Master Builder

Rogue

Runner-up: None

Debating the original award, we concluded that only two games deserved our attention: Rogue's post-nerf swarmhost build on Terraform or Rogue's baneling drops on Echo. Each build resulted in success, and both games were entertaining and enjoyable. One build was an attack, the other, a defense. Both were truly one of a kind, or at least, one-of-a-season. After several rounds of fierce debate, we realized that there was no way to separate the two builds, and the true outlier was, in fact, Rogue himself.



The Tinkerman was truly a delightful abomination at the end of Heart of the Swarm. Whereas players and playstyles usually begin to congeal as the game becomes more mapped out, Rogue (along with his teammate, sOs) remained one of the players insistent on solving problems his own way. That's exactly what he did with these two builds.



On Terraform, the problem zergs faced was late game ZvT, where many of the most adept terrans appeared impenetrable. Zergs either had to bum rush them early to gain a sizable advantage or pray to the overmind that their ultralisks don't block each other during their final assault. Instead, Rogue pulled out the swarm host, a unit barely used after the nerf. He didn't commit to them, however, as they were merely to buy time and pressure over a long period of time without additional cost. While a roach runby could have been more effective, such a maneuver could only happen once or twice before becoming too costly. Swarm hosts, on the other hand, presented a constant threat, and spread the terran out, dissuading him from taking bases too early. what's even more surprising about this game is the late game, where Rogue similarly innovated. While most zergs on the map attempted to bulldoze fortified positions with ultralisks, Rogue's solution was far more elegant. He committed to far more vipers and hydras, and utilized the maxim that energy units are more efficient. By yanking key units over and over again and killing them from range, Rogue played the late game more efficiently than we had ever seen. Spread out tank lines were especially vulnerable, and each yank opened up an opportunity to move forward due to the spread. Likewise, tanks could not huddle together for fear of blinding cloud, and Rogue patiently chipped away for his win.







Rogue's solution on Echo was the opposite: stay back, wait for the right time, then watch everything explode. Blink+sentry was the great bane of zergs against protoss in late Heart of the Swarm, and very few players played it quite as well—or, as Rogue had realized, as bullheadedly—as herO. Protoss in this mold were determined to do damage and hit at key timings, and the huge commitment to stalkers, upgrades and gateways usually meant that protoss had few transitions if their attacks failed. They may add immortals and archons to the mix, but there was usually an absence of real AoE. Aware that the attack was going to come no matter what, Rogue decided that in order to stop forcefields, you just, well, fly over them. And it was absolutely disgusting.





Let's hope that Rogue's rise to prominence as the winningest zerg in Proleague encourages more of his brethren to experiment.





Best Ceremony PartinG Give back

Dear players of Proleague, you should all be ashamed of yourselves.



Seriously. Ceremonies were so bad this year, that we made this award specifically to not give out the award. In 2014, Proleague had some of the best ever ceremonies: PartinG shooting Flash, Stork as a storm trooper, Flash beating up Action in a dinosaur suit, Flash kicking a ball with SKT players' names on it into the crowd during the fucking Grand Finals. This year we had... I don't even remember. It seems the mere presence of PartinG in the league made everyone cockier, funnier, and more creative. Without him, everyone just kinda played nice. This is Proleague, and we don't want nice. We want ceremonies every single game, we want rivalries created and storylines electrified by crazy antics. It's one of the few times we get to see genuine emotion and excitement from the players, and every single fan of Starcraft would like to request that everyone up their game.







For the love of Proleague, just give us back PartinG.





Best Moment sOs' reverse all-kill

For every sports fan in the world, there’s no worse feeling than The Fear. One moment, your team is cruising along, up 3-0. Your team’s icon is performing better than he has all year long, winding back the clock to the times when he used to deliver results, week in, week out. On the verge of dealing out a crushing sweep, he loses. There’s no logical reason to panic; no reason that this one result should dictate the course of the rest of the match. But, as every fan knows, momentum is a fickle thing. Sometimes, the sinking feeling in your gut means you just know something is about to happen, and that neither you nor the players in the booth can do anything about it at all.





Players fell one by one as the chilling inevitability of the all kill began to take hold. First Flash—dumped out of the game in familiar fashion by a gateway all-in, then TY—harassed to death by blink stalkers and DTs. Zest came out next, in dominant form following a perfect 11-0 score in Round 4, and was sent back to the bench in stunning style, out-thought and outmanoeuvred by sOs’ clutch colossus drop. By the time Stats came out as KT’s last hope for Proleague success in 2015, everybody watching pretty much knew what was about to happen. By winning the match for Jin Air, sOs made history as the first player in Starcraft 2 Proleague to score a reverse all-kill. Forget BlizzCon—this was the day this year that he looked truly unstoppable.





Best Terran Maru

INnoVation Runner-up:

Despite encountering some fierce opposition this year from Dream and INnoVation, Maru was still able to distinguish himself as the best terran in Proleague. His sheer consistency and great contribution to his team made him stand out head and shoulders over his peers.



Firstly, Maru played the most games of any terran in 2015 Proleague, going 27-16 for a impressive 63% win rate—just 1 game behind Zest who contributed the most wins to his team with 28. He nearly doubled INnoVation's number of games, and while INno had a 72% win rate, he was mostly absent from the first two months of PL, either not winning or not being sent out at all in favor of Dream. While Dream's flame burned bright in the first few months of Proleague (to the tune of a 12-6 record), he eventually burned out and INnoVation became the go-to terran for the team again. Bbyong is also a worthy mention as he played a considerable 30 games, but only managed a 53% win rate.



Secondly, Maru also contributed a lot to his team in clutch moments, stepping up 5 times as the ace and winning 3 of those encounters against some of the strongest players in Proleague. Maru also did what no other terran could do in 2015: snag an all-kill for his team, against KT in the Round 3 playoffs.



Yes, he encountered a lot of hardship and yes, Maru's ZvT suffered quite a lot in the later parts of the year. However, he was the only terran in the top 5 for wins, he delivered when it mattered, and he was the reliable performer that allowed his temperamental teammates Rogue and sOs to flourish.





Best Zerg Rogue

Runners-up: ByuL, soO

2015 will be remembered as the year that Rogue finally found consistency while still flashing his penchant for the ridiculous—and winning! He made more strides this year than any other player, reaching the rounds of 8 with unbelievable consistency and claiming 26 wins in Proleague. He was 5 games better than the second best zerg, ByuL, and was a perfect 3-0 in ace matches throughout the year. While he was rarely preferred over Maru or sOs when the chips were down, Jin Air's mighty campaign would not have been possible if not for Rogue.



Last year, he was considered Cure's partner in crime as Jin Air's support players, but he has truly elevated himself to the Proleague elite. The Sexy Boy was also one of the most entertaining players to watch, and fans of zerg anticipated his every build. It's odd how other zergs have yet to follow in the madman's innovations, but it's possible that only a man of his vision would be capable of pulling off his inspirational strategies. Even though he isn't quite revolutionizing the zerg race—because no one seems to want to follow—, his personal evolution has been revelatory.





Best Protoss Zest

sOs, herO Runners-up:

Of the three races, the award for Best Protoss was easily the most hotly contested. Four of the top six ranked players in the competition were protoss (Zest, sOs, herO, and Stats), while SKT’s unparalleled depth and rotation policy is likely the only reason why Classic lagged behind. With such little difference between the big hitters, it becomes a case of what you value. Stats started the year off strongly (14-2) but was anonymous in the second half of the year; similarly, sOs struggled initially, before peaking just in time for the playoffs. herO was relatively consistent all year round, but also failed repeatedly in the playoffs when the pressure ramped up.



Meanwhile, Zest was the one who managed to mix everything together. Consistent throughout the year (excepting his perennial weakness to Maru, and his baffling set of losses to Creator), he also managed to nail a perfect 11-0 Round 4 to clutch out a round win and a spot in the Season Playoffs for KT Rolster. His 2-5 ace match record must have been a disappointment, but on a KT Rolster team that thoroughly disappointed following their 2014 success, he was often the only reason why they threatened to trouble the top end of the table.





Game of the Year vs on Vaani sOs vs Zest on Vaani

vs on Vaani Runner-up: INnoVation vs sOs on Vaani

There are players that simply see plays that no one else can. In traditional sports, Hall of Famers like Jason Kidd or Andrea Pirlo possess the hallowed trait of vision. They see the game unfolding three of four steps ahead of the present, and they can pull off passes that might have been foolhardy or impossible to the common man. In Starcraft 2, sOs is the visionary that sees the invisible.



In their rematch during the SPL Proleague Post Season, Zest had to have been favored. The KT wonder had just scored a perfect 11-0 round, and his PvP had always been considered one of the best in Korea (unless he faced Creator). On the other hand, sOs' form had fluctuated throughout the season, especially in PvP, though he was on an all-killing hot streak. That they already played a game on Vaani Research Station that saw sOs pull off a crazy gold base early expansion suggested that sOs should have been out of crazy tricks. We were wrong.



It started as a nondescript game, however. Both players elected to play conservative early games, expanding after their cyber cores. sOs had the earlier 2nd gas, and he invested his resources in a twilight council while Zest picked a defensive posture: earlier gates and a robo. It wasn't going to be a blink timing, however, as sOs added his own robotics facility. Instead, he would attempt to draw Zest out with his blink stalkers and do damage with a warp prism carrying zealots (or vice versa). Unfortunately, Zest was prepared and took no damage, resulting in a 5-6 probe lead and a slight tech advantage. After the initial poke had been pushed back, Zest already had his +1 attack churning along with his first colossus in production. sOs did have his own robo bay just finished, but his investment into blink and a warp prism had been for naught.





At that point, sOs had two choices: try to catch up in economy/tech or commit to a big attack. Instead, he inexplicably opted for a middle of the road solution: catch up slowly while investing in more harassment. However, he saw something that most people would not have identified: the lack of mobile anti-air. Zest had gone straight into a robo, which meant that all he had were waddling stalkers. With no blink and no phoenixes, sOs' warp prism had the leisure of going wherever it wished. Both players expanded to their third bases and their paths diverged; Zest continued to crank out colossus while sOs warped in a templar archives in order leapfrog him in tech. sOs then chronoboosted an additional warp prism right after his hallucinated oracle scout, which set him further behind in colossus number.







Just by looking at the supply counts, sOs appeared helplessly behind. He was 25 supply down with fewer colossus and a slightly later third base. Though his +2 was ahead by a small margin, 1 upgrade would not have made a 25 supply difference. His next move, however, did. He picked up a colossus as soon as his 2nd warp prism finished and moved out towards Zest's third. The KT observer spotted the army, and Zest positioned himself to defend his open expansion. Then, a colossus appeared in his natural along with a big warp in of zealots. For the first time in the game Zest appeared rattled, and he had trouble splitting his army in order to deal with both groups of Jin Air units. Before he could decide how much to commit to the defense, his natural had fallen along with a colossus—at the expense of a handful of zealots. sOs still had a smaller standing army though, and he was forced to recall his main force after a small skirmish in the middle of the map.





sOs had somehow gotten himself back in the game by taking two big risks at the same time. Had Zest moved out with his army to contest sOs' third, there would have been no way for him to hold. His army was smaller because he had spent his money on both harassment and additional tech. Yet he understood Zest's one vulnerability and exploited it perfectly. There was hardly any risk in committing a colossus to the drop, and his main army was merely a distraction. Had Zest pounced on the army without a recall, the game would have been over, but sOs made sure there was no opportunity to do so.



From there, sOs used his base advantage to amass a better army over the next few minutes. Though Zest had already transitioned into tempests, he did not have the number necessary to deal with his opponent's massive colossus and archon army. Even with patience and clever positioning, Zest could not take an engagement with a bulk of his supply in zealots and stalkers. sOs' early gamble on his templar archives eventually paid off to the tune of Zest's entire army evaporating in seconds.









Match of the Year KT Rolster vs Jin Air Green Wings

One of the most prominent stories of Proleague in 2015 was the decline of FlaSh. Formerly the ace of KT Rolster in the first 2 purely-SC2 Proleagues, with a notably good performance in the first half of 2014 in spite of the extreme vulnerability of his race, FlaSh's play in 2015 was marked by disappointment after disappointment. Beyond his failure to venture further than the Round of 16 of the GSL, FlaSh maintained a weak record in Proleague, having more defeats than victories in his 14-18 score.



Still, the fans of FlaSh held steadfast; despite loss after loss, heartbreak after heartbreak, FlaSh retained their respect and their hopes. Finally, in day 2 of Round 1 of the playoffs, FlaSh rose to the occasion after a depressing defeat to Trap in day 1. Crushing Trap and avenging himself by destroying 2 colossi—and effectively Trap's entire army—out in the open, FlaSh carried his team further in game 2 when he executed a mech timing attack against Rogue, who misplayed and failed to use blinding clouds during the vital engagement. Then, he elevated the hopes of his fans to the maximum when he defeated what seemed to be Jin Air's own ultimate weapon, Maru, in a mech versus bio game.



At that point, the aura surrounding FlaSh appeared to be reinvogorated—had God finally manifested? Alas, it was not so, as Jin Air's wildest card, sOs, entered the fray, and annihilated the dreams of KT fans everywhere. Knocking FlaSh off his roost with a gateway cheese fueled by a gold base, the Million Dollar Man calmly and single-handedly stopped FlaSh's hype train. Then, he eliminated fellow terran TY with equanimity, before facing Zest. While Zest theoretically held the advantage, sOs revealed his nature for the umpteenth time—he performed a colossus drop with a zealot warp in, and, catching Zest out of position, eliminated his natural base. From there, Zest was too far behind to catch up. In desperation, KT Rolster played their last card in Stats. It was not to be fruitful, as Stats' gateway cheese failed to do any significant damage. sOs retaliated with an in-base pylon, warping in zealots that wiped Stats' economy out in order to secure the reverse-all kill for his team.



Not only did sOs play magnificently for his team, but he also secured the first ever reverse-all kill in SC2 Proleague's history, and brought his team into Round 2. Had he failed at the critical moment, perhaps FlaSh would have gotten the all-kill instead, and would have given his team increased morale while shattering Jin Air's. Who knows? But as it was sOs, he gave us rather one of the most epic matches in all of SC2 history, and the best match of Proleague 2015.





Coach of the Year iloveoov

Choya Runner-up:

The growth that SKT T1 experienced in 2015 was tremendous. All their players fired on all cylinders, many won multiple gold medals and some claimed a few silvers. It's easy to see that plenty of them had achieved or gotten close to achieving their full potential. When such a thing happens to one player you can attribute it to hard work, ambition and maybe a bit of luck. When such a change occurs to an entire team, then it's clear that the leadership itself is doing something extraordinary.



In 2015 oov managed a remarkable feat: he created a constellation of stars by pushing his champions further and cultivating his younger charges. INnoVation and Classic both won titles again, while soO broke his duck by winning his first Korean title. Dream and Dark came close to claiming their own championships, and it feels like only a matter of time until they do. Sorry looks like one of the brighter rookies in Korea, while both Impact and Billowy's careers received shots in the arm.



All that would have been in vain had they failed once again in Proleague, but their balanced attack succeeded where their all-star assault had failed. In 2015, all of his players came together as one, with all 8 of his players contributing in some way to their cause. They were fearsome because of the collective threat and it was impossible to predict just who would play on what map, or even who would play as their ace. oov managed the tools at his disposal expertly, and only Jin Air's momentum during the post season looked even close to challenging SKT T1.





Finding that delicate balance between individual league and team league success should be every coach's ambition, and SKT's harmonious year should be attributed in part to iloveoov. He was the best coach of the year and a model of excellence, and who knows what his team might achieve in 2016.





Player of the Year Maru

Runners-up: Too many to mention

The win rankings were pretty tight at the top this year, with five players racking up 25+ wins, all at around a 60-65% win rate. All had their flaws—sOs had a poor start; Zest performed abysmally in ace matches; herO consistently failed in the playoffs; Maru tailed off in Round 4; while Rogue was merely consistently good for most of the year, without hitting the heights of the other four.





In the absence of a clear statistical favourite then, the award has to go to the player with the most impact on his team, and that was undoubtedly Maru. He was the major impetus behind Jin Air’s three consecutive silver medals in the Round Playoffs, with an incredible 20-5 record in Rounds 2 and 3. His unquestioned dominance in TvP was very handy indeed in the increasingly protoss-rich Proleague scene, while he was unbeaten in the mirror matchup until the late advent of mech. His unfortunate decline right at the business end of the season may have dented his stats considerably, where Zest and sOs in particular cashed in, but it still shouldn’t distract from the first seven months of the campaign where he was the star of Proleague. No player caused as much apprehension in the opposition; no player looked more unstoppable.











Of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't wrap up Fantasy Proleague with our own awards for the players. We threw in all the absurd and nonsensical awards here too, because we just really have to be reminded of how fun and hilarious Proleague was at times. All adds to the charm, I guess.



Least Valuable

Player Solar

Oh, Solar. It hurts me deeply to keep giving you this award, but you leave me with no choice. I thought the 2014 season was just a really weird one for you, and that you'd finally find your footing in 2015. Yet somehow, you seem to be permanently hexed when it comes to Proleague. It doesn't matter how low your cost goes, you just never end up paying for it. In fact, you are the only player to ever score NEGATIVE points in a FPL round, which until this point I thought was impossible. You did the impossible, but in the worst possible way. I don't know whether to call that impressive or deplorable.





Solar did slightly redeem himself in R4 by getting 18 points and ending the season at 5-14, but it was likely only because of the fear of potentially being the only player worse than BboongBboong. Which brings us to our next award...





Worst Player

of the Year BBoongBBoong

1-14, on Prime, and implicated in one of the worst scandals of the century. Yup. Even though FPL awards are mostly jokes and insults, I still feel bad for naming B4 in this. So, no write up for you, you horrible horrible man. ... though I guess that means he gets away scott-free, at least from FPL Awards.





RorO of the Year Flash

For all his shortcomings and disappointing individual league results, Flash was still one of the best players in Proleague. Until this season, when he finally began to lose his aura even in Proleague. Whereas he could still be counted on to carry KT in Ace matches in 2014, 2015 was a turbulent season for him. His point progression was inconsistent to say the least: 6-15-18-14. He failed to score in the 20s in any round, and his 6 pointer in round 1 had to be his worst round in his history in FPL. Many gave up on him after that dismal showing, yet he scraped together a decent 15 in round 2. He got back up to 18 in round 3, but once we upped his cost, he once again dropped back down to the low teens. His unpredictable form made him impossible to pick or anti. What an unfortunate way to go out.









Most Mis-Hyped

Player TY

TY was supposed to be the terran KT needed. A reliable alternate 4th player, maybe even Flash's replacement. Yet it never panned out for TY as he struggled to get wins even when fielded. His 10-11 record was only slightly better than Flash's, and he scored in single digits in 3 out of the 4 rounds. He's apparently picked himself back up in LotV, and with Flash gone, he's KT's de facto terran from now on. Let's hope I don't have to write about him again next year.









The King of the

Bargain Bin Award

for Best Value

's Round 2 Panic 's Round 2

Far and away, Panic's Round 2 was the best bargain buy in all of FPL. With a clean 3-0 (and 1 win against each race), he earned himself 13 points despite costing only 1. For those of you who are terrible at math, that's 13 points for every 1 cost. In comparison, herO's blistering 32 point round was only worth 4.57 ppc (points per cost), making Panic 3x more efficient. He followed that up with 19 pts in R4, but by then we were already clued in to his random bouts of goodness. Very few things feel better than picking a random 1 pointer and then acting smug when it pans out, like you actually expected it (because let's be real, you didn't).





BackHo Award for

Player Most

Likely In Kespa Jail

Prime

It's kinda depressing that this turns out to be the most serious and truthful award in FPL Awards this year.



Seriously, fuck you Gerrard.





TheBest Award for

TheBest Brain Meltdown against Maru MyuNgSiK against

When playing against Maru, a protoss' #1 priority should be deflecting drops. Even though Maru has a fearsome TvP record, he can play a very 'predictable' style. By predictable, we mean he will predictably tear you to shreds. MyuNgSiK tried what any sane (assuming he's sane) protoss would try: use phoenixes in the early game to stop drops while transitioning to colossus. That, of course, did not deter the little terror, and he continued to drop the entire game. MyuNgSiK basically stopped every single drop without losses, and he played a very good defensive game.



And then, he lost. He defended perhaps 20 drops, and yet he lost. In what was one of the most confusing games of the year. So confused was he that he couldn't repress his tears. Yep, pretty sure every protoss cried after that game.





If you reeeeally want to read a serious analysis of the game, you could always read this.





Best Train Crash

of the Year losing vs sOs Flash losing vs

IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING, everyone screamed, as Flash bulldozed his way through Jin Air, aiming to reach a second consecutive SPL Grand Finals to face their eternal rivals. He had brought down Trap, Rogue and Maru—the latter two combined for over 50 wins in SPL this year—and only one more player remained. The hype train was on, and there was no way anyone was going to stop it. For once this season, he actually looked unstoppable.



And then sOs bopped KT. Just when everyone thought that Flash was finally going to live up to his name in Proleague, sOs slapped him back in the most heart-wrenching train wreck of the season. His reverse all-kill made it even worse, as it eliminated KT from the playoffs.



Oh, and it would be Flash's final game in Proleague. Ouch.





#BrokenPromise

of the Year "We need a sponsor"

Just when we thought that we couldn't have any more bad scandals, SBENU the company—or, at least, its CEO Sonic—decided to implode. Sure, this was during the offseason, but StarTale SBENU actually looked like a team that had found stability during the tail end of the season. Instead, they might have to bust out the "We need a sponsor" shirts again for the 2016 season (if SBENU go kaput because of Sonic's case), unless they find a chicken chain or a Russian oligarch to save them from this debacle.









Admiral Ackbar Award

for Best Trap vs TY Pigbaby vs

To quote Olli, unashamed lover of all things protoss:







You think this is a regular gate expand? Wrong! Here's 2 oracles. You think I'm about to hit you with a gateway timing and end the game? Way out there bro, here's a fast third. Oh, you think that was the mind game? Is that why you're moving out to pressure me? Actually, how about a 10 gate blink all-in that hits you straight in the face? After all, you just salvaged your bunkers. And by the way, your army is split up. Did my drop throw you off? You're dead, by the way.





Lichter Award

for Best Fashion Brendan Valdes

While I debated giving this award to herO at times, his turtleneck + glen check suit at the 2015 Korean eSports Awards made me change my mind. You ain't Sean Connery from the late 80's, bro. I didn't even bother to ask whether his dipdye sweater at BlizzCon was Robert Geller or Acne or whatever. It also hurt my eyes to see almost every single player wearing rubber soled loafers in suits at an awards show, but I digress.





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While normally, Korean players are considered more fashionable than their western counterparts, the clear winner of this award is Brendan Valdes. While most of his outfits on Proleague were, of course, chosen by the wardrobe department, his haircut was always on point and his facial hair groomed. He was also one of the most well dressed people I met at BlizzCon, so I may be biased here, but his personal style was just clearly better than even the Koreans. I complimented him on his sick camel coat and now we are fashionbros.





Kenzi Award

for Selfier of the Year Stork

Named after everyone's favorite Korean esports journalist and photographer, this award isn't even close. While most Koreans have yet to embrace western social media (and selfies), Stork has just let his camera roll. Whether it's pics of his dog, his food, or his new hair cut, we've been constantly updated about what he looks like over the past 2 years. In a day and age where we want to know more about our favorite players, Stork gets it right. Except when he doesn't. Like when he picks his lineups.





I don't even know what that is.



Check out his instagram, because he really wants you to check out his instagram: https://www.instagram.com/koreasbg/





Mister Efficiency GuMiho

In order to be successful in FPL, it's not enough to just identify the best players in the league. With a limited budget for team construction, it's important to find the most efficient players, because they will give returns that exceed even the best players for their cost. For the 2015 season, no one was even close to as efficient as GuMiho. Even though he only played in half the rounds, he showed CJ Entus just what they were missing by failing to make the most of him in 2014. He was worth 4.625 ppc over two rounds, which was 0.825 ppc higher than the 2nd placer, DongRaeGu (who really had a very good and underrated season). Maru doesn't even break 2.0 ppc at 1.94. That's how good GuMibro was at raking in the points.









Player of the Year herO

The most boring award, but I've got to give it to someone, right? Otherwise people are going to complain. herO earned the most points at 86, narrowly edging out Zest at 85, so I guess he wins. You know, mathematically. Totally objective here, guys. herO's monster 32 point round was likely the difference, though Zest was slightly more efficient at 2.7ppc to herO's 2.6. That was likely due to his lower valuation due to Life and Flash (lol) threatening his title of super ace, unlike herO, who for whatever reason was always preferred over ByuL. Actually, they were both subpar in ace matches. herO it is then.









