[ASL] Finals Preview- Sharp knife, fast shuttle! Text by BigFan Graphics by v1 So, this is final ly it. If you told me that we'll be seeing Sharp and Shuttle face each other back when ASL started, I would've stared at you for several minutes and came to the sound conclusion that you were nuts! I'm sure most of us would have especially considering the plethora of amazing players such as Flash, EffOrt and Last who signed up and were potential ASL finalists and champions.



Alas, they and many others of their ilk fell on their path to the grand stage while these two contenders were the only survivors among the group. What makes this finals interesting is the path these two players took to the finals. Sharp survived and thrived on TvT in the elimination stage, a bit reminiscent of Last's SSL10 run while Shuttle destroyed, arguably, the strongest championship contender in Last. What does this all mean? Has Shuttle finally upgraded speed or will Sharp take his first championship in the post-kespa era?



Read on for a recap of the semifinals by SC2John followed by the finals preview by BLinD-RawR. Finally, take a quick peek at staff predictions to see who we believe will be victorious! Now, it's time to sit back, relax and watch some of the finest BW on the planet with the finals set to start in .



Table of Contents Intro



Recaps

by SC2John



Previews

BLinD-RawR





Staff Picks

Liquipedia

Sea vs Sharp



Game 1 (Fighting Spirit):

In the early game, Sea pulled off some brilliant vulture dropship harass, but Sharp held off the pressure remarkably well, bringing the game to a split map scenario. As Sea attempted a mass wraith switch, Sharp delivered a killing blow by punching a hole through Sea’s defenses and cutting him off from his fifth and sixth bases. A last ditch attempt from Sea to push through the middle of the map and cut off Sharp’s reinforcements ended in disaster and he was forced to tap out.



Game 2 (New Taebaek Mountains):

As is common for New Taebaek Mountains, we got another weird game. Sea threatened a bunker rush before walling off with his factory and immediately going for double port wraiths. Unfortunately, Sharp had goliaths ready in time and delivered a painful counterblow to sea’s economy. Scrambling to pick up the pieces, Sea desperately tried to get up a second base, but constant harassment from Sharp kept him pinned back. With a superior fleet of wraiths, Sharp swooped in and took the second win.



Game 3 (Overwatch):

Early game contained a bunch of small back and forth action, but eventually Sea was able to push onto the small ridge just outside of Sharp’s natural and put a stranglehold on his ability to reinforce his outer bases. As the game turned into a split-map scenario, Sea walked into Sharp’s far bases and slowly dismantled him from the inside out.



Game 4 (Circuit Breaker):

This game started out a lot more passively than all of the other games, but Sea eventually set up a very aggressive line of scrimmage to keep Sharp stuck inside his base. Sharp attempted to get back into the game via drops and vulture runbys, but Sea’s multitasking stayed strong as he deflected all the pressure without losing much. A push by Sharp to break Sea’s foothold in the center of the map ended in a disastrously bad trade. Finally, with the lead he needed, Sea switched into mass wraiths to end the game decisively and tied up the series 2-2.



Game 5 (Fighting Spirit):

Another TvT, another split-map scenario. Among a myriad of tech switches and super technical pushes, Sharp’s unique goliath-heavy TvT style is able to break Sea’s air tech. This game came down to the wire as both players found themselves in the late game with only a single mining base left. Unfortunately for Sea, goliaths are far more cost efficient than wraiths, and Sharp was able to break Sea’s final mining base for the win.





It turns out that goliaths are pretty good against wraiths.



Shuttle vs Last



Game 1 (Overwatch):

Shuttle began with a devastating DT drop that nearly outright killed Last. With a booming economy and all the map control in the world, Shuttle teched up to arbiters with a gigantic ground army. Unfortunately, Last is the master of positioning, and managed to find an opening to push directly into Shuttle’s natural. Despite having all the tech at his disposal, Shuttle just couldn’t break the siege line and had to tap out.



Game 2 (New Taebaek Mountains):

Okay, well... you should know what to expect by now on New Taebaek Mountains. Last tried a strangely executed SCV pull bunker rush, but Shuttle was able to easily deflect it. Naturally, the proper response by Shuttle was to build three stargates and start pumping out carriers. Despite Last’s best effort to keep control of the center of the map and kite the carriers back with his goliaths, the golden armada lived on and completely obliterated Last’s defenses.





The golden armada wrecks Last's army



Game 3 (Circuit Breaker):

A passive opening from both players, but Last surprisingly took the low ground expansion closest to Shuttle’s third. Despite some attempts to break it, Last held strong and was able to put significant pressure onto Shuttle’s main base. Shuttle did his best to rebuild his main base on the other side of the map while Last expanded into Shuttle’s natural—an unusual “base trade”, to say the least. Using some brilliant tactics using the mobility of his gateway army, Shuttle outmaneuvered Last’s bulky mech army to whittle down his expansions, chip away at the deathball, and eventually take the breathtaking win.



Game 4 (Fighting Spirit):

It was clear that Shuttle had the upper hand by this game. The early game was characterized largely by macro pushes from Last thwarted by constant micro tricks from Shuttle. After breaking Last’s third with a zealot drop on top of the tanks, Last fell apart and couldn’t keep up. The incoming flood of Protoss units turned out to be too much, and he had to type out the fated words “gg”. In the early game, Sea pulled off some brilliant vulture dropship harass, but Sharp held off the pressure remarkably well, bringing the game to a split map scenario. As Sea attempted a mass wraith switch, Sharp delivered a killing blow by punching a hole through Sea’s defenses and cutting him off from his fifth and sixth bases. A last ditch attempt from Sea to push through the middle of the map and cut off Sharp’s reinforcements ended in disaster and he was forced to tap out.As is common for New Taebaek Mountains, we got another weird game. Sea threatened a bunker rush before walling off with his factory and immediately going for double port wraiths. Unfortunately, Sharp had goliaths ready in time and delivered a painful counterblow to sea’s economy. Scrambling to pick up the pieces, Sea desperately tried to get up a second base, but constant harassment from Sharp kept him pinned back. With a superior fleet of wraiths, Sharp swooped in and took the second win.Early game contained a bunch of small back and forth action, but eventually Sea was able to push onto the small ridge just outside of Sharp’s natural and put a stranglehold on his ability to reinforce his outer bases. As the game turned into a split-map scenario, Sea walked into Sharp’s far bases and slowly dismantled him from the inside out.This game started out a lot more passively than all of the other games, but Sea eventually set up a very aggressive line of scrimmage to keep Sharp stuck inside his base. Sharp attempted to get back into the game via drops and vulture runbys, but Sea’s multitasking stayed strong as he deflected all the pressure without losing much. A push by Sharp to break Sea’s foothold in the center of the map ended in a disastrously bad trade. Finally, with the lead he needed, Sea switched into mass wraiths to end the game decisively and tied up the series 2-2.Another TvT, another split-map scenario. Among a myriad of tech switches and super technical pushes, Sharp’s unique goliath-heavy TvT style is able to break Sea’s air tech. This game came down to the wire as both players found themselves in the late game with only a single mining base left. Unfortunately for Sea, goliaths are far more cost efficient than wraiths, and Sharp was able to break Sea’s final mining base for the win.Shuttle began with a devastating DT drop that nearly outright killed Last. With a booming economy and all the map control in the world, Shuttle teched up to arbiters with a gigantic ground army. Unfortunately, Last is the master of positioning, and managed to find an opening to push directly into Shuttle’s natural. Despite having all the tech at his disposal, Shuttle just couldn’t break the siege line and had to tap out.Okay, well... you should know what to expect by now on New Taebaek Mountains. Last tried a strangely executed SCV pull bunker rush, but Shuttle was able to easily deflect it. Naturally, the proper response by Shuttle was to build three stargates and start pumping out carriers. Despite Last’s best effort to keep control of the center of the map and kite the carriers back with his goliaths, the golden armada lived on and completely obliterated Last’s defenses.A passive opening from both players, but Last surprisingly took the low ground expansion closest to Shuttle’s third. Despite some attempts to break it, Last held strong and was able to put significant pressure onto Shuttle’s main base. Shuttle did his best to rebuild his main base on the other side of the map while Last expanded into Shuttle’s natural—an unusual “base trade”, to say the least. Using some brilliant tactics using the mobility of his gateway army, Shuttle outmaneuvered Last’s bulky mech army to whittle down his expansions, chip away at the deathball, and eventually take the breathtaking win.It was clear that Shuttle had the upper hand by this game. The early game was characterized largely by macro pushes from Last thwarted by constant micro tricks from Shuttle. After breaking Last’s third with a zealot drop on top of the tanks, Last fell apart and couldn’t keep up. The incoming flood of Protoss units turned out to be too much, and he had to type out the fated words “gg”.

Unlikely Heroes



Sharp



After a breakout performance in the VANT National Starleague getting 3rd place (losing 1-3 to Bisu in the Semifinals and then beating ZerO 3-0 in the 3rd place match), nobody really expected Sharp to break that standing considering the short but stacked lineup of the ASL. He did have a bit of luck when Bisu dropped out and gave him his seed so he didn't have to go through qualifiers and when coupled with playing TvTs, Sharp's bread and butter, he has now made his way to the finals.





I'll never get tired of this gif

A big obstacle for Sharp right now is his TvP especially going by his tournament stats. They are pretty poor, however, Sharp in general has better mechanics than Shuttle as well as an aggressive playstyle that is sure to push Shuttle's gateway army play. He has also been practicing multiple strategies to prepare against shuttle with other protosses.



Sharp likes to play a very active style opting more for aggressive openings and trying to do more with his initial FD push or going for midgame pushes off 4-5 factories. This is followed by mass expansions when he's been given the opportunity rather than turtling off 3 bases, getting that 2/1 timing and letting the protoss get his economy and tech up.





Sharp scouting the location of the finals

While Sharp doesn't have the stats to show confidence in the matchup, he does however have great preparation with more material to prepare with. He has a playstyle that takes advantage of shuttle's weaknesses and has even gone through some nerves training by checking out the venue and getting a feel for it.



Shuttle

Right from the start, looking at the Ro16 groups, it was more than obvious that Sharp would make it to the Ro8. Looking at Shuttle's group, however, many thought he'd drop out only beating sSak ending in a 1-2 record with effort and free moving forward, but the opposite pretty much happened with him advancing second from the group losing to sSak but beating free and EffOrt. He went on to beat Jaehoon in the Ro8 which was expected then followed it up with potentially the biggest upset in the tournament with Shuttle going 3-1 over Last who had destroyed Flash in the Ro8.



Shuttle's PvT record in tournaments indicates that it is one of his better matchups and his head to head record against Sharp is 4:2 (winning two Bo3s 2-1) which were won with sharp overextending himself and Shuttle capitalizing on it with counter attacks.





Legend of the fall?

Of course those were before Shuttle decided he's going to play carriers more often in the matchup especially on maps like circuit breaker where he quite often goes for that 3rd nexus on the mineral only and immediately adds on a fleet beacon. While Sharp does have a tendency to overextend, more often than not, Shuttle's ground army control isn't the most ideal, especially against terran making his carriers very vulnerable. Shuttle has access to better practice partners though, like his former STX teammate Last and even Flash who are very likely to help him prepare.



Shuttle has some clear advantages over Sharp; a winning record giving him some confidence and better practice partners. He also tends to go for but doesn't stubbornly rely on carrier play and needs to look out for Sharp's terrorist vultures and out-multitask him.



Maps

Circuit Breaker (Set 1 & 5):

At least in one of the two games, Shuttle is going to go for carriers quickly securing their mineral only and keep a high gateway army count before making those transitions. He will only expand further after getting tech. Either way, Sharp will look to play both sets the same way, by pressuring Shuttle off 2 bases and following up with double expansions once he gets the map control then work his way into double armory pumping upgrades.

Sharp > (if carriers)

Shuttle > (if Arbiter+gateway army)



Overwatch (Set 2):

Shuttle likely goes for early goon pressure and transitions into Templar/Arbiter off 3 bases taking the mineral only base before his third gas or a shuttle reaver into a big midgame army. Sharp will likely want to go for the standard 3/4 base (including mineral only) turtling seeing as how the cardinal position bases are easier to hold being connected to the "donut" and on the high ground.

Shuttle > (HTs in shuttles will storm sharp's army to death because sharp focuses on holding the donut)



Fighting Spirit (Set 3):

3 base turtle into 2/1 timing from Sharp. Shuttle tries to take every other base on the map.

Sharp > Shuttle



New Taebaek Mountains (Set 4):

Carriers are pretty much a given on this map with so many ridges to abuse and the fact that you have very easy access to 3 gas. For what it would take to get your 3rd gas on a regular map, you can get a 4th gas meaning that templar tech is also extremely easy to get for protoss. At the same time, you can expect a lot of proxy shenanigans from Sharp, especially proxy fact vultures but more likely a 2 factory tank pressure to keep Shuttle from getting away with too much greed. If the game progresses into the mid-late game, Shuttle will hold the advantage unless the map becomes split then Sharp will be in an advantageous position.

Shuttle > Sharp

After a breakout performance in the VANT National Starleague getting 3rd place (losing 1-3 to Bisu in the Semifinals and then beating ZerO 3-0 in the 3rd place match), nobody really expected Sharp to break that standing considering the short but stacked lineup of the ASL. He did have a bit of luck when Bisu dropped out and gave him his seed so he didn't have to go through qualifiers and when coupled with playing TvTs, Sharp's bread and butter, he has now made his way to the finals.A big obstacle for Sharp right now is his TvP especially going by his tournament stats. They are pretty poor, however, Sharp in general has better mechanics than Shuttle as well as an aggressive playstyle that is sure to push Shuttle's gateway army play. He has also been practicing multiple strategies to prepare against shuttle with other protosses.Sharp likes to play a very active style opting more for aggressive openings and trying to do more with his initial FD push or going for midgame pushes off 4-5 factories. This is followed by mass expansions when he's been given the opportunity rather than turtling off 3 bases, getting that 2/1 timing and letting the protoss get his economy and tech up.While Sharp doesn't have the stats to show confidence in the matchup, he does however have great preparation with more material to prepare with. He has a playstyle that takes advantage of shuttle's weaknesses and has even gone through some nerves training by checking out the venue and getting a feel for it.Right from the start, looking at the Ro16 groups, it was more than obvious that Sharp would make it to the Ro8. Looking at Shuttle's group, however, many thought he'd drop out only beating sSak ending in a 1-2 record with effort and free moving forward, but the opposite pretty much happened with him advancing second from the group losing to sSak but beating free and EffOrt. He went on to beat Jaehoon in the Ro8 which was expected then followed it up with potentially the biggest upset in the tournament with Shuttle going 3-1 over Last who had destroyed Flash in the Ro8.Shuttle's PvT record in tournaments indicates that it is one of his better matchups and his head to head record against Sharp is 4:2 (winning two Bo3s 2-1) which were won with sharp overextending himself and Shuttle capitalizing on it with counter attacks.Of course those were before Shuttle decided he's going to play carriers more often in the matchup especially on maps like circuit breaker where he quite often goes for that 3rd nexus on the mineral only and immediately adds on a fleet beacon. While Sharp does have a tendency to overextend, more often than not, Shuttle's ground army control isn't the most ideal, especially against terran making his carriers very vulnerable. Shuttle has access to better practice partners though, like his former STX teammate Last and even Flash who are very likely to help him prepare.Shuttle has some clear advantages over Sharp; a winning record giving him some confidence and better practice partners. He also tends to go for but doesn't stubbornly rely on carrier play and needs to look out for Sharp's terrorist vultures and out-multitask him.At least in one of the two games, Shuttle is going to go for carriers quickly securing their mineral only and keep a high gateway army count before making those transitions. He will only expand further after getting tech. Either way, Sharp will look to play both sets the same way, by pressuring Shuttle off 2 bases and following up with double expansions once he gets the map control then work his way into double armory pumping upgrades. Shuttle (if carriers) Sharp (if Arbiter+gateway army)Shuttle likely goes for early goon pressure and transitions into Templar/Arbiter off 3 bases taking the mineral only base before his third gas or a shuttle reaver into a big midgame army. Sharp will likely want to go for the standard 3/4 base (including mineral only) turtling seeing as how the cardinal position bases are easier to hold being connected to the "donut" and on the high ground. Sharp (HTs in shuttles will storm sharp's army to death because sharp focuses on holding the donut)3 base turtle into 2/1 timing from Sharp. Shuttle tries to take every other base on the map.Carriers are pretty much a given on this map with so many ridges to abuse and the fact that you have very easy access to 3 gas. For what it would take to get your 3rd gas on a regular map, you can get a 4th gas meaning that templar tech is also extremely easy to get for protoss. At the same time, you can expect a lot of proxy shenanigans from Sharp, especially proxy fact vultures but more likely a 2 factory tank pressure to keep Shuttle from getting away with too much greed. If the game progresses into the mid-late game, Shuttle will hold the advantage unless the map becomes split then Sharp will be in an advantageous position. Sharp vs Shuttle

2Pacalypse- (Shuttle 3-2)

BigFan (Sharp 3-2)

v1 (Shuttle 3-1)

SC2John (Shuttle 3-0)

c3rberUs (TIE!)

BLinD-RawR (Sharp 3-2) Writers: SC2John, BLinD-RawR, BigFan

Graphics: v1

Editors: BigFan

Photo Credits: Liquipedia and DailyEsports

Former BW EiC "Watch Bakemonogatari or I will kill you." -Toad, April 18th, 2017