EPT
Prologue
There have been many great rivalries in Starcraft, from Boxer-Yellow, to Boxer-Garimto, to Boxer-Reach, to Boxer-TheMarine. But after the Boxer era (and the Nada era) came the iloveoov era.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/oov2.jpg)
iloveoov
Within the iloveoov era we had many rivalries. From the JulyZerg-iloveoov rivalry, the iloveoov-nada and the iloveoov-reach rivalry. The latter produced some epic games, and seeing as most of my blogs have been somewhat directed towards XvZ - its time to crank some hard core PvT
Where it started
Unlike most good rivalries, this one started in the teamleagues/proleagues. In the deciding set between Orion and Hanbit, it was iloveoov vs reach. Iloveoov had turned the tables on Hanbit (who had been 1 game away from victory for 2 sets) and created a final set. In this important match, oov wiped the floor with reach in a dominating display of macro.
But the real clincher was the finals of teamleague held in February 2004. Iloveoov had already secured a 2-0 advantage for 4 Union and his third opponent was Reach. In a desperate attempt to win, Reach proxied 2 gateways and tried his best to cheese oov (who is uncheeseable). Reach failed completely - but the loss was important, it started history between the two.
The rivalry develops
Reach and oov met a couple more times; and each time the confrontation was eagerly awaited. Reach scored a win in the iTv Ranking tournament against oov but lost out to oov twice more in Gillette and in iTv stage 2.
Then came the most important tournament of all. EVER 2004 OSL. Reach was showing great form with a second placing in Gillette, but oov had just won his third MSL (on top of a third placing in Gillette. Reach finished second in his group (to yellow) whereas Oov finished first in his group. (It was also this time where Reach earned the name HeroToss as he was the only Protoss in the Ro8Reach took care of Xellos 2-1 just as Oov dismantled Nada 2-1 in the Quarterfinals. Their semi-final opponents? Each other.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/reach1.jpg)
Reach
Reach stepped up his game to match that of Oov's and created one of the best bo5 series ever.
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Game 4
Game 5
+ Show Spoiler [Post-Game Interview] +
Q : Tell us how you feel making it to the finals.
A : It was very hard. I felt so down after loosing to Reach in the first game by units. Reach didn't do harassing or any other thing but went purely mass units and all I could do was blcok,block,block. Later in the game I was disgusted with his unit production. I was so surprised. I never lost a game with mass units vs mass units. The 2nd game Reach did Carriers inside his main. I thought I would loose but I won with my first rush. The 3rd game I should have lost but Reach made a mistake in one of the battles and I won. 4th game I lost totally. It was such a great strategy. The fifth game I got gas rushed four times. I thought I lost and the terrain was flat so i was in desperate situation. But I blocked his attack and was lucky. I said to myself lets only defend and get my natural expansion and Reach went fast tech. so I was lucky.
Q : You look very tired after winning.
A : I'm so happy I kept my promise. But I won't promise anymore. It's too pressuring. Before I played today I was so confident. I even thought a 3-0 shutdown was possible. The first game Protoss had prepared a whole lot. It's true that after loosing the first game I was very down in spirit.
Q : Who do you want to meet in Daejon? (City where finals are held)
A : I want to meet Boxer. I think it would be fun playing him in the finals. My master must reign again. Before coming today we promised each other not to meet in the 3rd place match. I hate seeing in old movies/books where the master grows old and dies.
Q : Rate your game with Reach.
A : Now I understand why he is called mullyang toss. (It means toss that is very good at massing up units) I thought he wasn't that much but I was surprised and even found it funny how he had unit after unit coming. I thought I couldn't loose the first game. I had 4000 minerals left over but in the end used it all.
Q : Who was your hardest matchup against until now?
A : All of my opponents were hard to beat. The 1st round was fun, and the quarters and semis were hard. But as hard as the opponent is to beat, I think I have more fun playing.
Q : Who did you practice with?
A : I practiced with Kwon O Hyuck and Hyung Wook. (Sorry, don't know akas.) When I won MBC Spris Starleague Kwon O Hyuck helped me alot. He is my favorite practice partner. Thank you O hyuk!
Q : It's your birthday today, how do you feel?
A : I never though of birthdays as special. But after becoming a progamer my fans take care of my birthday and I am so grateful. I almost even cried.
Q : From when did you think that you would one day be in the OGN finals?
A : I thought I would go right to the finals when I first got in to my first challenge league. But I failed 2 times and thought it would never be possible and thus concentrated on MBC League. But after getting in to Gilette Star League I thought it was possible and now I am in the finals.
Interview translated from Fighetforum.com by ShaRp.
A : It was very hard. I felt so down after loosing to Reach in the first game by units. Reach didn't do harassing or any other thing but went purely mass units and all I could do was blcok,block,block. Later in the game I was disgusted with his unit production. I was so surprised. I never lost a game with mass units vs mass units. The 2nd game Reach did Carriers inside his main. I thought I would loose but I won with my first rush. The 3rd game I should have lost but Reach made a mistake in one of the battles and I won. 4th game I lost totally. It was such a great strategy. The fifth game I got gas rushed four times. I thought I lost and the terrain was flat so i was in desperate situation. But I blocked his attack and was lucky. I said to myself lets only defend and get my natural expansion and Reach went fast tech. so I was lucky.
Q : You look very tired after winning.
A : I'm so happy I kept my promise. But I won't promise anymore. It's too pressuring. Before I played today I was so confident. I even thought a 3-0 shutdown was possible. The first game Protoss had prepared a whole lot. It's true that after loosing the first game I was very down in spirit.
Q : Who do you want to meet in Daejon? (City where finals are held)
A : I want to meet Boxer. I think it would be fun playing him in the finals. My master must reign again. Before coming today we promised each other not to meet in the 3rd place match. I hate seeing in old movies/books where the master grows old and dies.
Q : Rate your game with Reach.
A : Now I understand why he is called mullyang toss. (It means toss that is very good at massing up units) I thought he wasn't that much but I was surprised and even found it funny how he had unit after unit coming. I thought I couldn't loose the first game. I had 4000 minerals left over but in the end used it all.
Q : Who was your hardest matchup against until now?
A : All of my opponents were hard to beat. The 1st round was fun, and the quarters and semis were hard. But as hard as the opponent is to beat, I think I have more fun playing.
Q : Who did you practice with?
A : I practiced with Kwon O Hyuck and Hyung Wook. (Sorry, don't know akas.) When I won MBC Spris Starleague Kwon O Hyuck helped me alot. He is my favorite practice partner. Thank you O hyuk!
Q : It's your birthday today, how do you feel?
A : I never though of birthdays as special. But after becoming a progamer my fans take care of my birthday and I am so grateful. I almost even cried.
Q : From when did you think that you would one day be in the OGN finals?
A : I thought I would go right to the finals when I first got in to my first challenge league. But I failed 2 times and thought it would never be possible and thus concentrated on MBC League. But after getting in to Gilette Star League I thought it was possible and now I am in the finals.
Interview translated from Fighetforum.com by ShaRp.
Uzoo MSL
Despite meeting in an irrelevant game in EVER 2005 the next real meeting of these two would be in Uzoo MSL. Both of these greats found themselves in the loser bracket. In the losers semi-final the two would meet, and the result would be one of the great displays of PvT (with mines raping the shit out of oov
)Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
+ Show Spoiler +
Game 3 and 2 have very very nice zeal bombs 
Epilogue
Since their epic bo5's one has slumped while the other has been in form, reducing any chances of an epic rematch. (they have had 2 bo1's which oov both won). But, in this fast paced world full of change, we should always remember the time the worlds best PvT met the worlds best TvP in two of the greatest clashes of all time.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/reachoov.png)
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