Unlike the GSL 1 finals, where HopeTorture essentially had no answer to Fruit Dealer's macro play, in the GSL 2 finals the advantage went back and forth, often in the same game. When previewing the finals, I wondered what NesTea's answer to Foxer's marine fast expand build was going to be. Not surprisingly, none of my guesses turned out to be correct. NesTea won games 3, 4, and 6 not with pressure or infestors but by taking advantage of two queen Zerg's ability to rapidly mass units. In between Foxer's initial pressure and his crushing onslaught of marines out of many reactored barracks, there was a window where, if the Zerg committed with enough units, he could be broken.
Given the success he had all tournament with his marine strategies, you can't blame Foxer for using the strategy that got him to the finals, but NesTea's preparation was more than adequate. It's not an accident that Foxer's wins came with strategies he hadn't used yet in the tournament (proxy barracks SCV rush in game 1, Thor/marine in game 2, and tank/bunker push in game 5).
Some people dislike Foxer's play, calling him a cheese player, while others say he was the better player and unlucky to lose the finals. Personally, I think the finals are just another manifestation of the way Starcraft 2, at least for now, is a game of strategy. Both Foxer and NesTea are very strong in both micro and macro, but throughout the tournament NesTea has shown he can find the right timing to defeat his opponent's strategies. This is easy to say, but with patches and metagame changes constantly shifting the build orders and tactics, NesTea's ability is actually extremely impressive and makes him a very worthy champion.
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