If you haven't been following Brood War for very long time, you may find this story quite intriguing. There is a legend told to us by our elders as a bedtime story. The legend says that, in the fall, a Protoss will win the Starleague. As strange as it might sound, it’s come true more often enough to leave Brood War fans amazed and baffled. You may well be wondering why I'm talking about Legend of the Fall now, in the spring. The truth is, it's an important part of OSL history, and everyone should know that this legend has a strange tendency to manifest.

All of this started in the fall of 2001. The SKY OSL was the stage on which the young Protoss warrior, GARIMTO, stole first place from Boxer, then on the verge of a third consecutive OSL. After stopping BoxeR from winning three back-to-back finals against all odds, GARIMTO would be the first figure in a story that’s persisted for more than a decade. To be honest, I have no idea how people came up with a legend that Protoss will win in fall after a single time it happened. Somehow, it came to be believed that autumn was a time when a Protoss player could rise and, in the most exciting fashion, prove his worth. I'm sure that even the progenitors of this legend had no idea just how prophetic it could be.

Somewhere along the line, even the non-believers started to have their doubts. Exactly one year later, when young Protoss hope Reach defeated Boxer himself in the fall of 2002. This too had been a SKY OSL, and Boxer's second chance to win what would have been his golden mouse (though that institution wouldn’t be created until 2005), only to see him brought to his knees by Legend of the Fall.

The most amazing thing about this particular OSL was that Reach was a lonesome Protoss player. He and GARIMTO were the only Protoss representatives in the group stages. The big difference, of course, is that, where GARIMTO failed to pass his group and went out of the tournament with disappointing 0-3 result, Reach fought hard. He was carried on the wings of something greater than himself and went on to fulfil the legend once again.

For a few years, the legend stagnated. Sceptics questioned its validity in the first place. It was not until fall of 2005 that someone would breathe new life into the old legend. Brood War fans were shocked when an up-and-coming Protoss player, Anytime, made it all the way to the finals of So1 OSL. His opponent? Once again, Boxer. Strange as it sounds, Boxer seemed to have become the punching bag of the legend, which seemed to make it its mission to deny him of his third OSL win.

After GARIMTO, Anytime would be the second Protoss player to have walked came to be known as the Royal Road (not counting Grrrr..., who won the first OSL), meaning that he won the first OSL he participated in. Of course, it’s worth noting that Anytime did it in a far more impressive fashion. When he picked then-bonjwa iloveoov for his group, people thought he was crazy, but Anytime didn't care. He was on a mission, a mission to do something impossible.

Once Anytime had renewed the Legend of the Fall, there was a drought of Protoss winners for three long years. However, in the fall of 2008, during Incruit OSL, a two-time silver medallist, Stork, was pitted against a potential Royal Roader in the form of Fantasy. In that fight between two OSL trademarks, Legend of the Fall and Royal Road, the Legend of the Fall prevailed. Once again, we were reminded of its importance. All at once, Stork had broken his silver medal curse and fulfilled Legend of the Fall.

For the last nine years, there seems to have been a recurring theme in the OSL, a theme that sees a Protoss player win in fall once every three years. There were no Protoss winners in between. It’s more than a little disheartening if you’re a fan of Protoss players.

Nevertheless, after Stork's win in 2008, we had what was, in my opinion, the most amazing Legend of the Fall yet. Right from the group stages of the 2011 Jin Air OSL, things looked grim for the Legend to come true once again. With only Stork and JangBi to represent the Protoss race, it's definitely true that Protoss players walk a lonely road. After Stork's disappointing 0-3 result, he was eliminated from the tournament. Similarly, JangBi was also facing elimination in the group stages, having only one win and two losses. Luckily for him though, as if willed by some higher power, tiebreakers were forced. JangBi had one more chance at glory.

Carried on the crest of unearthly wave, he managed to win the rest of his matches and quickly found himself in the finals against Fantasy, the last victim to fall to the Legend of the Fall. Even before the finals were played, it seemed clear that we were due another Legend of the Fall manifestation. It was as if Fantasy had no say in the matter.

After an amazing five matches, the weird power of the Legend of the Fall prevailed once again.

Ever since Bisu's 3rd MSL win, fans have been saying "This is Bisu's OSL." The former bonjwa candidate has since fallen, and now this line is used more as sarcastic mockery of Bisu's inability to win a single OSL. However, there are still true fans of Bisu that believe that this will be Bisu's OSL. But before we talk about whether Bisu can take home the gold, he must first get through this group.

Bisu and RorO shouldn't have any trouble getting to the finals; there isn't anyone else that really stands out in this group. Both Ryul2 and BisAnG boast 100% lifetime win rate in official matches, but sadly, 1 win is not enough to make one a contender against Bisu. BByong hasn't played in this PL season, probably for a good reason. BarrackS went 2-2, but only faced mediocre opponents, and his plays from earlier seasons show that he will be no match for the likes of Bisu or RorO.

Bisu and RorO last met in 10-11 Proleague, where RorO came out ahead after a 40 minute, action-packed game. That was RorO's only official win against Bisu and Bisu still holds a 8-1 lead over RorO. RorO will definitely give Bisu a run for his money, but I don't think it'll be enough to take him down. Bisu should be able to edge out of this group, but don't expect him to get too far. The last time Bisu went anywhere farther than Ro16 in OSL was in 2008-2009 Batoo OSL, and he's been sent to the preliminaries twice more in the past.

Prediction: Bisu > RorO

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This group is pretty easy to predict. Rush, oDin, and Classic haven't played well since.. well... never. Last game oDin won was over a year ago, and as much as I would love for him to do well again, I doubt that we'll be seeing him in a StarLeague. Classic had his short moment, but overall had a disappointing season, overshadowed by Last and Bogus. I've never seen fOKINS play, but I doubt he'd be able to beat Sun, let alone Classic.

So it comes down to Sun vs Stats. Sun looked extremely promising at the end of last season, and he got off to a good start this season as well. For a short time he seemed to have forgotten how to win games, but has recently picked up his game again, showing some amazing micro in a game against Horang2.

Stats has been solid throughout the season, winning games when it mattered. Although his PvP seemed shaky at times, I think overall Stats is the better player and he should be able to take this group.

Prediction: Stats > Sun

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As usual, the two seeded players seem to be the heavy favorites to win this group. Woon and Kop are pretty much unknown, and even the slumping sKyHigh and Shuttle should be able to win easily against them. Shuttle pretty much went missing this season, going 0-3 in PL. When he plays well, it is very fun to watch, but I don't think he'll make it out of this group, but who knows - maybe we'll see this again.

I love sKyHigh. I still remember when he defeated my beloved Jaedong and company to reverse all-kill Oz in the Winner's League finals. I hope that someday he'll play well again, but it won't be this time. His only solid match up now is TvT, and I don't think he'll be getting one in this group.

Action has played solidly in the playoffs, but he seemed inconsistent throughout the season. Also, his ZvP record this season is 1-4, winning only against Snow. BeSt has been solid in ZvP lately, so I think he still has the edge in this match up.

Prediction: BeSt > Action

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Not much to say about this group. This isn't the playoffs, and Flying won't be playing PvP, so it's an easy group for Bogus. HoeJJa might carry over the momentum he currently has from playoffs, but his ZvT has never been good. I'd be tempted to predict HoeJJa over a lot of other players like BeSt, Crazy-Hydra, or even Effort, but I don't see him ever winning against a decent TvZ player. He'll still crush Flying though.

Bogus looked very inconsistent this season, even losing the "ace of STX" position to Last. Fortunately for him, he's got an easy group in the preliminaries, but I don't think we'll see him go far into the tournament.

Prediction: Bogus > HoeJJa

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I don't think any of the non-seeded players will make it to the finals. They all have 1 or 0 plays in PL this season, and none of them have won a game. Movie went 4-5 this season, pretty much beating players he should, but never creating an upset. He is a solid player, but he's not good enough for OSL yet.

On the other hand, Last has shown us that he really has what it takes to win. He won the first six games of the season, and people began to say things like "Last bonjwa!" and "Last > Flash!" His short losing streak put out the hype, but he played well again near the end of the season. Although he couldn't send STX to the playoffs, he'll most likely get through this group with no problems!

Prediction: Last > Movie

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Again, the non-seeded players stand little chance against Leta and Brave. Brave had a great season, going 7-5 and helping KHAN get to the playoffs. With PL over, he will be able to practice even harder for his match against Leta. Leta also had a great season with 12-6 record. His TvP is weak compared to his other match ups, but I have no doubt that he will be able to beat Brave.

Brave has played zero PvT games. That's right, zero. It's hard to tell how good Brave is at PvT, but I'm going to guess that it's not good enough to beat Leta.

Prediction: Leta > Brave

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Soulkey will definitely make it to the finals, but I think Wooki has a shot at beating Dear. Dear has played phenomenally this season, getting the rookie award. He went 7-2, beating Sea, FBH, and Light twice each and going 1-1 against Flash! Famous for breaking Flash's monster streak, Dear seems like he might take this group! Wooki on the other hand has not played as well as Dear, but he has played many more games. He went 5-9, much worse than Dear's 7-2, but has wins over Bisu and Jangbi. Dear has not won a PvP this season, and I think Wooki has a better chance of winning.

Either way, I think Soulkey will easily beat Dear or Wooki. With ZerO in a slump, Soulkey really stepped up his game and almost carried Woongjin into the playoffs. With a solid 66% lifetime winrate in ZvP, I think Soulkey will have no problem making it out of this group.

Prediction: Soulkey > Wooki

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The most boring group out of the 12 in my opinion. Jaehoon, the quintessential mediocre player, will probably make it to the finals on his side, barring any upsets from herO. The other side is a little bit more competitive, since TurN is the only player in this group to have over 50% winning record. However, sHy boasts one of the highest PvT winrate this season, with wins over BaBy and Bogus.

I think Jaehoon will have a chance to make it out if sHy beats TurN, but I think he will choke (as usual) against TurN. I wouldn't be surprised no matter who comes out of this group, since nobody is much better than anybody else. Maybe we'll even see ToSsGirL win a game!

Prediction: TurN > Jaehoon

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This is a very interesting group. Light really stands out as the only consistent player in the group, but his TvP weakness might come to hurt him if he ends up playing against Grape in the finals. That seems to be quite likely, since Mind has been playing terribly the entire season while Grape managed to pick up a few wins.

Light, with a 1-8 TvP this season, is probably praying that somehow Mind will be able to advance over Grape. He may even have trouble against Trap, but I think Where will take Trap out before he gets a chance at Light. This is probably the best group Grape could have asked for, at the cost of Light's chances at the gold. Unlike all the other groups that seem like they will be landslide victories for the seeded players, this one seems like it will be an upset.

Prediction: Grape > Light

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3 players with 0 wins in this group! Perfectman also has yet to win a game since he joined KT, so this group will boil down to Snow vs ZerO. Snow was once praised for his fine PvZ after losing a nail-biting series 2-3 to Jaedong in PDPOP MSL, but this season his PvZ record is only 1-4 (Only win is vs Jaedong.. what a coincidence!). ZerO also suffered from a mini-slump this season, but he seems to be in a better shape than Snow. Overall, I think ZerO will easily take this group without dropping a single game. Definitely check out Snow vs Jaedong if you've never seen the series!

Prediction ZerO > Snow

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Another competitive group! Besides Rudy and hudadak, I wouldn't be surprised if anyone else took this group. Let's start with mini. He went 4-5 his first season, defeating Hydra and EffOrt! I'm not saying that this means he'll win again, but it goes to show that mini has what it takes to make EffOrt give some effort. EffOrt did pretty well this season given that he was away from Brood War for quite a long time, but he's not at the level he was at before he left. Being in a difficult group certainly doesn't help either!

On the other side we have Tyson. If it wasn't for Jaehoon being on the same team, Tyson would probably be the symbol of Team 8's mediocrity. His PvZ especially seems to be weak this season, with a 0-2 record. He needs to prepare carefully if he wants to get past Crazy-Hydra, who's been on a tear this season. Crazy-Hydra was mostly a ZvZ sniper prior to this season, but he has really stepped up his game. He finished 10-4 this season, with 5-2 in ZvP and 4-1 in ZvZ. He's the favorite in this group, although any of the other 3 players could potentially beat him in one best-of-3 series.

Prediction: Crazy-Hydra > Effort

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As much as I hate to admit it, I don't see free getting out of this group at all. With a 3-6 PL record this season, it seems that free the dragon is gone. He might beat Reality, who is 1-3 TvP this season, but neither player is going to be able to beat Horang2. Horang2 also hasn't been playing too well, but this is one group he can beat. A slumping free will be no problem for him if he can beat Kal and Stats. Again, Reality's TvP weakness will make it nearly impossible for him to get through a decent PvT player like Horang2.

Prediction: Horang2 > free