EPTLast week was amazing. Not only were the games good, but the suspense of the series was incredible. The most important part was that the storyline of the tournament is still very much alive. Bisu has a serious contender and we have two amazing PvZ's lined up in the semifinals. Will hero finally play in another grand finals? Will Bisu get four pooled to death? His games certainly looked shaky in the quarterfinals. Find out in the preview!
JohnChoi provides us with the best games of the two previous rounds in the top ten. Note that the games are in no particular order. If you haven't watched last week's games don't fear! Catch up with KristofferAG as he recaps the quarterfinals. The semifinals start in just !
JohnChoi provides us with the best games of the two previous rounds in the top ten. Note that the games are in no particular order. If you haven't watched last week's games don't fear! Catch up with KristofferAG as he recaps the quarterfinals. The semifinals start in just !
Table of Contents
Round of 8 Recap
Scraping by
Top Ten
The best games of the two previous rounds
Round of 4 Preview
Anniversary of PvZ
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Liquipedia
Round of 8 Recap
Scraping by
Top Ten
The best games of the two previous rounds
Round of 4 Preview
Anniversary of PvZ
Liquipedia![[image loading]](/staff/Hyde/SSL/SSL9/semirecap.jpg)
Hope is not dead
hero <Mist> 
Monghero <Circuit Breaker> Monghero <Match Point> Monghero <Tau Cross> Monghero <New Sniper Ridge> Monghero advances 3-2.The first day of the quarterfinals was a turbulent experience for any fan. Neither match showed a clear skill gap between the players, but instead ended up being two top-tier competitors trading blows left and right. Mong and hero started off the round, and the day, kicking it all off with a series of delicious TvZ.
It became clear fairly early that hero's goal was to delay Mong with mutalisks while building up a decent lurker army backed up by zerglings and defilers. And that's what he did in game one. Though his mutas were unable to do much damage due to Mong's turret ring, it kept the Terran in his base, and let hero expand freely. It didn't take long before hero had more lurkers than Mong had marines, and the final push was devastating.
hero decided to go for the same opening in the second game, with his mutalisks being able to do no more than make sure Mong couldn't push into the Zerg bases. Mong would constantly try to break through the third and fourth expansion of hero, while the Zerg would set up a lurker minefield, and rush to... guardians? Guardians could be decent, for sure, but in this case they definitely weren't, as hero sent them to attack an expansion, and let them die to marines. Mong's base-count soon exploded to the point where he had more bases than hero had lurkers, and the attempted ultralisk drops from the Zerg was not enough to pull it back in.
Game three was an odd one. hero once again opened mutalisks, while taking a third base as close to Mong's main as he could. His mutalisk control lost him a huge amount of his main army, and his third was quickly discovered and destroyed. The logical response for this seemed to be guardians off two bases. The plan was neat, but Mong built some valkyries. GG. The next game was almost completely identical, except the valkyries were too late, and Mong's base was already half destroyed. Also hero didn't lose his third because of it being right next to the Terran main base.
Wasting ten lurkers is not a good way to start your final game.
Final game, score is tied up at two to two. I thought that Mong had this one won after about twelve minutes, when he took a major engagement in the middle and set up a strong contain. However, hero's defilers popped in time to keep the Terran forces out, and soon enough, crush them. If I could recommend one game from the series, this would be it. The patience that hero displayed, and the multitasking from both players, was absolutely amazing to watch. Mong with clutch defensive matrices to save vessels or firebats, and hero with the attacks on multiple fronts while defending his mining bases and shutting down drops. Mong eventually had to gg out, as the ultralisks and zerglings flooded into his natural and main.
No credits are rolling
HiyA <Mist> 
MovieHiyA <Circuit Breaker> MovieHiyA <Match Point> MovieHiyA <Tau Cross> MovieHiyA <New Sniper Ridge> MovieMovie advances 3-2.From TvZ to TvP, as HiyA and Movie were poised to duke it out in the second quarterfinal of the day. The first match was about as standard as standard goes. There were some skirmishes back and forth in the mid-game, but it was still far too early to call anything. Movie played an extremely patient game, defending his bases, making sure HiyA's army was never at the critical size, and waiting for his high templars and arbiters before moving out. When he saw HiyA unsieging and moving away from his natural, he rushed in, got off a huge stasis, and got a nice sandwich off with zealots in the back. HiyA's army got annihilated, and gg was right around the corner.
HiyA's bunker rush in game two seemed very half-assed, and was followed by the Terran expanding to four bases and simply defending. Movie, meanwhile, took the opportunity to expand all across the map, while putting on some minor pressure. He was unable to deal any major damage until he got a big recall into the Terran main, which took out the main command center, but lost him his entire army. The two players would swap some bases one for one, but for the most part, neither player wanted to overextend. Movie's carrier switch was scouted fairly early, and the goliaths prevented him from actually using them offensively. With Movie's base count dropping, and HiyA's growing, it wasn't long till gg was called.
Final move of a desperate person.
HiyA got some early damage in with some vulture and marine drops in the third game, and crushed the first attack from Movie with some nice repairs on his tanks. As payback, vultures would kill another handful of probes in the Protoss main. Apparently, Movie got a bit annoyed, and would punish HiyA greatly with some extremely successful reaver drops, as well as a big, successful bust through the front. HiyA was well aware that he had to do some return damage, but with his tanks clumped up it became an easy target for a storm. Movie completely crushed the first push. Any further harass from the Terran was mostly deflected, and as Movie expanded like mad, HiyA was starving on three bases. When that became two bases, the game was just about over.
If the other games were slow-paced, this one was action packed from the start. It went from Movie overextending with his initial goons to HiyA counter-attacking and putting on huge pressure. When Movie moved out, vultures ran in and took out half the mining force of the Protoss. The small army Movie had couldn't do anything against the Terran defenses.
After the disastrous game four, Movie was ready to make up for it. With constant aggression through drops and pressure, he kept HiyA on two bases for the longest time, and when HiyA finally got his third, the Protoss was up to five bases. This time, the carriers were used more when they were built, though Movie definitely could have been more active with them. HiyA gained some ground, but was quickly pushed back, and with a mostly goliath army, he had a hard time standing up against the zealots and high templars of Movie. It took a while, but when the arbiters were out, Movie managed to seal the deal.
Proof of mortality
Bisu <Mist> LarvaBisu <Circuit Breaker> LarvaBisu <Match Point> LarvaBisu <Tau Cross> LarvaBisu <New Sniper Ridge> LarvaBisu advances 3-2.After the matches against Larva, I'm fairly certain Bisu had nightmares about having zerglings in his base. In the first game he ended up with zerglings in his base very early on, giving Larva a full scout and a couple of worker kills. That wasn't the only time in the match he would have those pesky little things running around. Larva played the aggressive game, which meant Bisu had problems getting enough sairs out. The fact that he lost some to scourge didn't help. Larva followed up by punishing the third of Bisu, and as you know, the third on Mist is a pain to expand to as it's easily accessible from behind the mineral line. Larva kept the pressure up with three hatch hydra, and a sudden mutalisk switch. Bisu was fairly helpless with his low corsair count, and the SOSPA veteran took the win.
After realizing that Bisu had a problem with this early aggression that Larva dished out, he went for the same thing again, and suddenly, Bisu had zerglings in his base. This time, however, he was unable to do any damage. In addition to that, the corsair count went mostly unchecked, and zealot attacks from Bisu kept Larva down. Bisu eventually launched a zealot/archon attack on the third and fourth of Larva, which the Zerg could not deal with at all. In game three Larva wanted a quick win, and went for ling rush off three hatcheries. Bisu held on as best as he could, but not even the eleven kill zealot in Larva's base could stop the constant ling rush. It was a quick and dirty win for the Zerg player.
Game four was the first one where Bisu didn't get an early surprise visit from zerglings. Larva went for a three hatch hydralisk build instead, while Bisu tried to keep his opponent down with dark templar drops and a high corsair count. I feel I can pretty safely say that the dark templars alone were what won Bisu the game. Not only did a single DT get eleven kills in the main of Larva, but it also single-handedly killed the spire. When the hydralisk push finally came, it was late, and couldn't break the natural of Bisu. When Bisu eventually pushed out with reavers and high templars, there was nothing Larva could do.
Bisu at the brink of the elimination.
So with the third rubber match of the quarterfinals, both Larva and Bisu were on the brink of elimination. Once again Larva got zerglings into Bisu's main early on, and once again Bisu was left unscathed. Larva tried to do a mass speedling attack, but with Bisu pulling the probes and already having some zealots out, there was little Larva could do except snipe as many probes as he could. He kept making zerglings while taking a third, but when Bisu was ready to push, his zerglings were quickly dispatched of, and the tiny hydralisk army that remained was unable to save his third. When Larva tried to counterattack, he was forced to run away because his army was too small. Oh, and there was a twelve kill dark templar in his main. His final hope was a bunch of lurkers, but they all got stormed, and Larva was officially out of the SSL.
Flowcharts are foolproof
Mini <Mist> KwanroMini <Circuit Breaker> KwanroMini <Match Point> KwanroMini <Tau Cross> KwanroMini <New Sniper Ridge> KwanroKwanro advances 3-1.Kwanro and Mini would be the only match of the quarterfinals not to make it to the rubber match, though it was a close one. In the first game, Protoss would bring the pain with a two gate opening against a fast double expansion from Kwanro. The drone drills weren't good enough and the complete lack of base defenses ended the game before the five minute mark.
Mini giving Kwanro a taste of his own medicine with a 2-gate.
An annoyed Kwanro wanted payback, and his three hatch hydra bust definitely paid back in full. With some zerglings to buffer and take out the cannons, there was literally nothing Mini could do, and the series was tied up one to one after only ten minutes.
Mini started the third game by blocking the natural of Kwanro with a pylon, forcing the Zerg to expand to the far bottom right after spawning in the top right on Match Point. Kwanro grabbed his natural as soon as he could, and rushed to a lair, while Mini had his expansion up and running with a couple of gateways pumping zealots. Zealots that quickly got caught out on the map and executed. With Mini's lack of base defenses, Kwanro managed to get zerglings into the Protoss base, while his mutalisks cleaned up the zealot task force that was headed for the bottom right expansion. Pop quiz: How do you deal with mutalisks when you have literally zero anti-air? You don't. Kwanro took the lead!
Mini was literally a split second from elimination as Kwanro's early zerglings came up to the front of the Protoss base, only to get blocked just in time by two probes. Mini had learned, and wasn't about to let zerglings into his base again, but Kwanro was also able to block the scouting zealot from entering his main. Mini obviously knew something was up (three hatch hydra bust), and put down four more cannons to defend his front, while making sure no zerglings could get through his wall. Kwanro kept pumping hydras, and Mini kept putting up cannons. It really looked like Kwanro would close it out, but the hydras were eventually stopped. Mini somehow got a dark templar out on the map without a shuttle, which shut down mining on the third for a while, and forced Kwanro to defend with hydralisks. Mini was still in a horrible position, but some storm drops managed to keep him in the game. A mutalisk switch put more pressure on Mini, and with some nice control, wiped out the high templars in Mini's army. The high templars were literally the only chance Mini had, and as lurkers started morphing in, it became clear that Mini had very little going for him. With Kwanro on five bases, and Mini back on two after briefly securing a third, Kwanro was able to throw units at Mini's defenses till the Protoss no longer had any will to live. Kwanro took the match 3-1.
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- From ensured victory to teetering on the edge of defeat, nonstop back-and-forth action and phenomenal play from both players.
- “Two mineral patches at the expansions are 749 mineral. As the game progresses to later stages, new rush routes are formed.” - EarthAttack (creator of Mist)
- Ninja DTs. Carriers. Ghosts. Lockdowns. Tyson proving he has a couple more tricks up his sleeve. An absolute must watch game.
- PianO had received a shield battery "present” from Mini in Proleague (on his birthday too). PianO brings his own present to return the favor.
- JangBi storms. ’nuff said.
- “Mini’s playstyle isn’t set in stone. He can freely change up his style to match the opponent flow. This is his greatest merit.” - Lee Seung Won
- Class is everlasting.
- An intense ZvT with elements of the STX Zerg styled mind game plays.
- One base play and amazing defense from Bisu. Multitasking skills that brings tears to his Zerg opponents.
- A scrappy action packed game featuring some beautiful mutalisk micro and high templar sniping.
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This match-up was the staple ZvP of SOSPA in the late 2012 to the end of 2013. They have played a whopping 29 games against each other. In most of which hero has won, especially edging out in the best-of series where it mattered the most. Their rivalry culminated during late spring where hero destroyed Movie in the quarterfinals of SSL8. Movie was by far the top contender at taking out Killer in the grand final. Movie had a terrific record and was looking hotter than ever, which was proven in SRT13 in-between the semifinals and finals of SSL8. Note that, even though Movie won that tournament, he still lost to hero in the group stages. On the last day of summer they were scheduled to face each other again in a quarterfinals, this time in SRT16. Yet again Movie was the favourite to take out the best player at the time; Sea. And yet again hero denied him the chance of getting there.
hero in a final finally.
This time they meet in the semifinals and now it's hero's turn to be the favourite, not only to win against Movie, but to win in the grand finals against the current top contender to the title; Bisu. Getting through Movie might prove to be difficult though. Movie has played some ridiculous PvZ as of late with amazing shuttle harass and multitasking. The thing is, I'm just not feeling it for Movie. Why?
After hero got matched up against Mong in the quarterfinals I dismissed the tournament as over. Mong was supposed to eliminate the last threat to overthrow Bisu. Bisu was sure to have an easy time to take the tournament. hero ended up defeating Mong and is now in the semifinals with just Protoss left (sorry Kwanro). Now is the time of hero, you don't get a better shot at taking a title than this.
hero 3-2 MovieBisu looked lost against Larva. It didn't feel like Bisu was in the driver seat, he wasn't the one in control of the pace of the games. It felt very unlike Bisu. I didn't get the feeling that Larva was playing exceptionally well either. Kwanro's games against Mini weren't convincing either. The series of events should benefit Bisu though.
Why am I winning games?
Larva played a style very similar to that of Kwanro. Early game emphasis with lots of micro, and general chaos and disorder. Bisu should have learnt his lesson from Larva. He also has the ability to study Kwanro's games as they were pretty telling. Kwanro on the other hand can't get that much out of Bisu's games. But as previously said, Kwanro has the ability to do what he does, even though the opposition knows exactly what he is going to do.
Bisu and Kwanro don't have a very large history of playing each other. They actually only faced each other two times in progaming. Bisu destroyed Kwanro in GOMTV MSL Season 3 in the quarterfinals 3-0. Kwanro got revenge half a year later with a win in Proleague. So far they have only faced each other once in SOSPA games, where Bisu is 1-0.
This banner should infuriate you.
I'm leery of a certain past tournament. A tournament where there were two clear favourites for the final, it was going to be an amazing final. It ended up in a ZvZ between an STX player and no one else but Kwanro. It could very well happen again. Hopefully it doesn't happen, but I would love to see Bisu lose. The semifinals are going to be amazing, especially the first one. We are also set up perfectly for an amazing final. Please let it be so.
Bisu 3-1 KwanroWRITERS: KristofferAG, JohnChoi, and Epoxide
GRAPHICS: Hyde
PHOTOS: SonicTV
