Group C	Group D
Movie	Mong
Sexy	HiyA
Larva	sSak
kkong	Lazy

Movie’s run through SSL8 has been fairly straightforward so far and it doesn’t appear likely that any of his opposition in this group will be able to disrupt his progress through to the Ro8. Meanwhile, Sexy’s return to SOSPA competition in the Ro32 went reasonably well, taking out beast with relative ease but looking some way off challenging Mong’s TvT in the winners’ final.

Closing out the group are two players who have already met once in this SSL; Larva and kkong. Although neither player had much trouble dealing with the two amateurs that shared their Ro32 group, Larva’s straightforward dismissal of kkong in the winners’ final doesn’t bode well for the former MBC Terran, given Larva’s historical weakness in ZvT.


While Movie’s breakout performances in the 11th and 12th SRTs earlier this year featured two very strong PvT series, his overall win record versus Terran (which at time of writing stands at exactly 50%) is not particularly impressive in comparison with his other two match-ups. Fortunately for Movie, the main Terran threat in group C, Sexy, has always struggled in the past versus top Protoss players and is unlikely to have improved much since he was eliminated from SSL7 by Hint.

The most likely winners final appears to be Movie versus Larva, a match-up which, given the ex-SKT Zerg’s track record in SSL ZvP series, should be very interesting. Movie doesn’t lose very often in ZvP, with his only broadcast losses since January coming against Killer in a series which he ended up winning. Larva’s form since his appearance in the SSL7 final has declined a little but he has still managed a 70% win-rate versus Protoss so far in 2013 and is well positioned to at least provide a strong challenge to Movie, if they do happen to meet.


Kkong does not have a particularly long history of Afreeca competition, leaving us little to go on other than his middling performance in the Ro32. Suffice it to say, if his TvT is better than his other two match-ups, he might beat Sexy, otherwise he’s going to finish last. In the past Sexy’s TvT has been decent but given that he has only played four broadcast games in the match-up since August of last year, who knows what he’ll bring to the table.

The one thing that we can be sure about with Sexy is that he kills Zergs. At his peak early last year, Sexy was one of the few Terrans on Afreeca who could mix it with ZvT superstars Luxury and MinHo, and his recent series against beast, along with a win over Larva in Race Wars, suggest that if he does make it to a series against the WigZerg, he is favourite to come out on top.

Movie and Sexy to advance.



The final group of the Ro16 should provide ample opportunity for viewers to sit back and reflect on what has happened so far in SSL8, with the night likely to be dominated by TvT. Mong and HiyA, two players who by now must be considered Afreeca veterans, face off in the opening match of the night. Neither player has really put in any performances worth getting excited about so far in this SSL, with HiyA’s 2-1 win over fellow A-team pro Sea in the Ro32 group C losers’ match more resemblant of a narrow escape than a triumphant victory.

sSak’s fresh arrival from a KeSPA team house gives him an excellent platform to campaign for the place of top Terran on Afreeca, with his 3-0 record against non-trivial opposition in the Ro32 further underlining his quality. The former SKT Terran’s professional record is not quite as impressive as HiyA’s, but features broadcast wins over the likes of Leta and Flash, positioning him well for any mirror match series he’s likely to play in this Terran heavy group.


Elsewhere, Lazy’s progress to the second round from Ro32 group H appears to have been more of a surprise to me than it was to most regular Afreeca viewers and the ex-MBC Protoss' participation in a number of SOSPA events since his Ro32 games implies he's here to stay. While he looks to be a solid addition to the Protoss talent pool, Lazy will be hard pressed to make a real impact on this group, and a close losers’ match scrap with Mong is probably the best we should expect at this stage.

The headline match-up for this group is clearly sSak versus HiyA, with these two players representing the best of the ex-pro Terran representation remaining in the SSL following the elimination of Iris and Sea in the Ro32. While sSak's achievements as a progamer clearly don’t measure up to HiyA’s, he has a huge advantage in terms of training, with his last televised Brood War win coming in late 2012. Although a few months of SC2 practice will likely have dulled his Brood War skills a little since that last broadcast win, sSak still ought to have the upper hand over HiyA and looks like a strong candidate for a finals appearance.


HiyA versus Mong is a match-up as old as time itself. With Mong existing as the top player on Afreeca before the arrival of HiyA in late 2011, over the last year and a half these two have played countless series in both competitive tournaments and while dueling in the stratosphere of the Fish ladder. HiyA has, for the most part, always had the advantage, with Mong’s TvT never really measuring up to his other two match-ups. But these two clearly know each others’ style well, and Mong should be well motivated given their last series in the 12th SRT ended in a heavily one-sided 3-0 for HiyA.

Second only to group B in terms of overall strength and featuring at least one likely semi-finalist, this group is hardly straightforward in terms of possible outcomes. However, as usual, it feels safest to err on the side professional experience, something that sSak and especially HiyA have in spades. Mong is somewhat unfortunate that he was given a group without even one Zerg to destroy but his likely elimination is a byproduct of the continuing rise in standards that we’ve seen in SOSPA competition over the last six months.

sSak and HiyA to advance.

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WRITERS: Hyde, kjwcj, BisuDagger
GRAPHICS: Hyde
TRANSLATORS: Kimoleon
PHOTOS: dailyesports, kimbilly