• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 13:47
CEST 19:47
KST 02:47
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
RSL Season 1 - Final Week6[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall15HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16Code S RO4 & Finals Preview: herO, Rogue, Classic, GuMiho0
Community News
Esports World Cup 2025 - Brackets Revealed14Weekly Cups (July 7-13): Classic continues to roll6Team TLMC #5 - Submission extension3Firefly given lifetime ban by ESIC following match-fixing investigation17$25,000 Streamerzone StarCraft Pro Series announced7
StarCraft 2
General
RSL Revival patreon money discussion thread Who will win EWC 2025? The GOAT ranking of GOAT rankings Weekly Cups (July 7-13): Classic continues to roll Esports World Cup 2025 - Final Player Roster
Tourneys
FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series $5,100+ SEL Season 2 Championship (SC: Evo) WardiTV Mondays
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 482 Wheel of Misfortune Mutation # 481 Fear and Lava Mutation # 480 Moths to the Flame Mutation # 479 Worn Out Welcome
Brood War
General
Flash Announces (and Retracts) Hiatus From ASL [ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion Help: rep cant save
Tourneys
Cosmonarchy Pro Showmatches CSL Xiamen International Invitational [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL20] Non-Korean Championship 4x BSL + 4x China
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread CCLP - Command & Conquer League Project The PlayStation 5
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative Summer Games Done Quick 2025!
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 NBA General Discussion NHL Playoffs 2024
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Men Take Risks, Women Win Ga…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Trip to the Zoo
micronesia
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 942 users

[SRT] Grand Final Preview - Combo Breaker

Forum Index > BW General
Post a Reply
kjwcj
Profile Joined November 2011
Australia1064 Posts
July 04 2013 08:20 GMT
#1

11th SOSPA Ranking Tournament Preview

Table of Contents



Round of 4 Recap
The end of some eras.

Grand Final Preview
The unstoppable force versus the immovable object.

More on Liquipedia


Well that's it folks, time to pack up and go home. Movie's run to a record third consecutive SRT win is gone, Killer has finally lost a map in ZvZ, the dream is dead.

Wait? A TvZ final? The best TvZ player on Afreeca? A two time SSL champion? Oh alright fine, we'll have one last series.

With most of the boring record talk now out of the way, the SSL team is here to bring you one more bit of news about Sonic's latest ranking tournament. KristofferAG does his thing in the recap section, talking us through the two great semi-finals that took place last night. Following that a preview of our grand final, and with only one prediction to make, this time I at least has a 50/50 shot.

Join us tonight at 9PM KST as SOSPA's new top two battle it out in Brood War's hallmark match-up.



Round of 4 Recap


(Z)Killer vs. (Z)by.hero

With the randomizing of the semis, we ended up with what shouldn't be, another mirror matchup, ZvZ, between Killer and by.hero. Then again, the alternative was a ZvT against Sea, which chances are he wouldn't make it out. But that is no longer relevant, he was to face the Little Jaedong, Killer and his unstoppable ZvZ, in a Bo5 for one of the spots in the finals of the 14th SRT.

Already on Match Point Killer proved he was not taking this lightly. His early ling aggression was fairly easily defended with only lings and Drones, but it was the follow-up swelling of Zerglings from Killer that would catch hero by surprise, annihilating him as he was in the middle of teching to Mutalisks. So, game 1 went in Killer's favor.

On Match Point, both players went for Mutalisk builds. Well, I say that, but both players made Zerglings to put on pressure, hero getting a full scout with his. To make hero pay, Killer made about 30 lings, once again, and charged into hero's natural. This time there was a Sunken in time, which bought hero just enough time to get his Mutalisks out. Killer had gone Scourge first, which seems to be his favored style. There were some Mutalisk skirmishes, and while hero's air army was busy fighting Killer's air army, zerglings from Killer went into hero's main. Quick 2-0 for Killer.

And once again Killer has the chance of a clean sweep, as the players were ferried over to Neo Medusa. Killer got his initial overlord scout right and instantly saw hero's speedling build. In response, he made a handful Zerglings of his own to defend, relying on his micro, while teching up to a very fast Lair. Though he did defend the initial wave, he wasn't prepared for the following taskforce, which killed off all his Zerglings and made it into the main. In spite of a sunken morphing in, half of Killer's Drones were killed off. It all relied on Killer's scourges making it to hero's base before his Mutalisks popped. They didn't, and Killer instantly called it, knowing he couldn't claw his way back in.

So hero's proven that Killer is not the unstoppable force after all. On Fighting Spirit both players went for early expansions followed by pool and gas, before quickly moving into Lair and, you guessed it, Spire. There was no aggression from either side till the Mutalisks popped, and the initial battle was an even trade. Soon enough Killer wanted to go on the offensive, bringing his Zerglings along to tank the damage. There were good Scourge hits on both sides, but for some reason Killer left his Zerglings too far behind to tank any glaive bounces, ending with him losing his entire Mutalisk army. When hero arrived in Killer's natural a few minutes later there was nothing to be done, and hero tied up the series 2-2.


Guess the outcome. I couldn't.

With both players on the brink of elimination, we moved on to New Wind and Cloud, where Killer went hatch first followed by a pool and gas, while hero went the opposite way, ending with the hatchery. Both players quickly went into Lair after a few Zerglings, with hero managing to snipe a single Drone for a single Zergling. There was a lot of posturing after this, with neither player wanting to attack and make an accidental mistake. It would take a couple minutes before hero saw fit to charge in, and in the massive air battle that ensued, Killer came out on top. By a whole lot. The gg would be called after a short minute, making Killer our first finalist!

(P)Movie vs. (T)Sea

We're gonna get real for a moment here. No-one expected our (mine, at least) favorite Terran to make it to the finals of the SRT. There was some chance if he'd been allowed to meet hero in the semis, but with his history of bad TvP and Movie's, his opponent in the semis, scary PvT, there was little chance of him advancing. Or so we thought.

The naysayers were shut up already in set 1. Movie's pressure with his initial units was easily handled with zero losses. Sea's pressure with his first tank and vulture pretty much cleaned out the entire army of Movie, and the widow mines allowed him to siege up Movie's natural, and kill a bunch of Probes in the process. It was only when the Scarab arrived that a sliver of hope appeared for Movie, as he was able to grab a dozen SCVs before being forced to return home. His natural, however, did go down. Sea's following mech push was too much, and the underdog took game one.


Movie shows us how not to use Carriers. (They're under Sonic's face, if you had trouble spotting them.)


On Match Point, Movie went for a 1gate expand, to which Sea responded with a bunker rush, not committing completely to the cheese as he built an expansion behind it. There waws a Shuttle made, but not much was done with it nor its Reaver, before Sea suddenly had Movie's natural sieged up. Movie tried to take out Sea's third, but already the siege tanks and Vultures were ready to defend. Movie was able to kill off the small army Sea had outside of his natural, and went for a double drop into Sea's main. Which failed horribly, as he lost all but his dropships, dropping his Reaver on top of mines. Sea once again sieged up Movie's natural, and while denying mining there he sent his Vultures to kill off the Probes in Movie's third. Out of nowhere came three Carriers from Movie, which pushed Sea back. The Carriers went for Sea's fourth, but by the time they got there, a squadron of Goliaths were ready to shut it down. Movie managed to get his Carriers trapped in a corner, losing all of them. While this was going on, Sea destroyed Movie's third. GG was soon called.

I know, it blows my mind as well, but by now Sea is up 2-0 against Movie, one of the absolute favorites to win this SRT, you know, along with Killer. Bring on Neo Medusa, and potentially our last game. Sea proxies a single Barracks in the middle of the map and sends out a few SCVs, managing to get up a Bunker that's out of reach from anything important to Movie. Movie quickly places down a Shield Battery, and Sea gg's out. Anticlimatic much? Either way, it means Movie is back in the game.

So, we're back on Fighting Spirit, and both players gear up for a macro game, with Movie sending out his first goons to pressure Sea. It works to some extent, killing off Sea's Marines and first Vulture as well as one tank, but the expansion finishes, Sea gets his siege mode, and Movie is forced back, with some losses of his own. Feeling safe, Movie goes for a greedy quick third base, which he instantly regrets once it finishes. Sea takes it out uncontested. Obviously, Movie tries to take a new third south of his main, while Sea floats his CC out to the 6 o'clock. Movie tries to deny it with a Shuttle dropping on Sea's tanks, but his entire army dies with only minor losses for Sea. The obvious move for Movie is to go for DTs, which he does, and he's even able to kill a tank with it before it's scanned and killed. Then his five-goon army gets killed as Sea charges across the map with a terrifying mech army, which forces our former SRT champion out of the game. Yes, Sea just won, very convincingly I might add, 3-1 over Movie.

Grand Final Preview



Thursday, Jul 04 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

(Z)Killer vs. (T)Sea


With the series that was supposed to be his greatest test passing almost without issue, Sea ought to be looking forward to a finals series which will be played in his strongest match-up. Elsewhere, Killer just scraped through to his second SRT final, in the process losing his first two ZvZ sets of 2013. With Movie's SRT dominance having been so unceremoniously ended by Sea in the last round, this final is beginning to look like a match-up between the two best players in the SOSPA scene.

During the TvZ bonanza that made up the final stages of SSL8, there was a sense that Sea may have been the Terran most well equipped to finally overcome Killer, who in the end barely broke a sweat defeating sSak and HiyA with a 6-1 aggregate score. Sea's win record in TvZ, currently standing at 77%, is among the highest single match-up win-rate of any player in SOSPA competition, higher even than Killer's exceptional 76% win-rate in ZvZ and occurring in a much larger number of games. While it's unlikely that anyone who has watched Sea play, either in his Afreeca or professional careers would feel particularly enlightened when being told that he's good at TvZ, the ease with which he's been able to carve through every Zerg in the SOSPA scene, even Killer in unofficial matches, is actually remarkable.


I will take any excuse to use this gif.

Killer is probably the only player around right now who can make the final of a tournament and still have some people (including this writer) regarding his performance as relatively unimpressive. While he has at least reached the most basic of expectations by beating hero in the semi-final, Killer has not really looked quite as sharp or, perhaps, interested in this tournament as he was in the SSL. Regardless, Killer's talent remains unquestionable and while he won't have the benefit of an offline setting, something which always seems to work in his favour, the former OZ Zerg is relatively well positioned to take his second SRT win, a little less than a year after his SOSPA tournament debut.

Going into the series, Sea's win earlier in the tournament, along with this generally strong record against Killer in the past, would seem to give him the edge in this final. However following his recent demolition of two of Afreeca's best TvZ players in SSL8, Killer at the very least will expect to keep the series close. As the newly crowned number two on the SOSPA Elo rankings, Sea now has a chance to complete his return to form against the best opposition possible.

Sea 3 - 2 Killer

WRITING - KristofferAG, kjwcj
GRAPHICS - shiroiusagi
Writer
blahz0r
Profile Joined December 2010
3030 Posts
July 04 2013 08:49 GMT
#2
[image loading]


Best gif =x
Liquipedia
KristofferAG
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Norway25712 Posts
July 04 2013 09:09 GMT
#3
best gif, best man. I reaaaaally want Sea to win this soooo bad!
@KristofferAG | http://vestkyststoy.bandcamp.com | last.fm/user/KristofferAG
Shellshock
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States97276 Posts
July 04 2013 09:09 GMT
#4
I hope Killer wins only because KAG told me he hopes Sea wins
Moderatorhttp://i.imgur.com/U4xwqmD.png
TL+ Member
KristofferAG
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Norway25712 Posts
July 04 2013 09:14 GMT
#5
On July 04 2013 18:09 Shellshock1122 wrote:
I hope Killer wins only because KAG told me he hopes Sea wins

You're slowly surpassing Lee in douchebaggery
@KristofferAG | http://vestkyststoy.bandcamp.com | last.fm/user/KristofferAG
Shellshock
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States97276 Posts
July 04 2013 09:16 GMT
#6
On July 04 2013 18:14 KristofferAG wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 04 2013 18:09 Shellshock1122 wrote:
I hope Killer wins only because KAG told me he hopes Sea wins

You're slowly surpassing Lee in douchebaggery

That's still pretty low in the rankings compared to the rest of us
Moderatorhttp://i.imgur.com/U4xwqmD.png
TL+ Member
KristofferAG
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Norway25712 Posts
July 04 2013 09:19 GMT
#7
On July 04 2013 18:16 Shellshock1122 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 04 2013 18:14 KristofferAG wrote:
On July 04 2013 18:09 Shellshock1122 wrote:
I hope Killer wins only because KAG told me he hopes Sea wins

You're slowly surpassing Lee in douchebaggery

That's still pretty low in the rankings compared to the rest of us

Not when it comes to Brood War.
@KristofferAG | http://vestkyststoy.bandcamp.com | last.fm/user/KristofferAG
BLinD-RawR
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
ALLEYCAT BLUES50118 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-07-04 09:29:43
July 04 2013 09:26 GMT
#8
you're both morons. :/

Yum Bo Sung!!!!!!!

Sea is probably the only person in all of Sospa BW that I'd root for over killer.

Sea's pressure with his first tank and vulture pretty much cleaned out the entire army of Movie, and the widow mines allowed him to siege up Movie's natural, and kill a bunch of Probes in the process


lol spider mines also the next line should say reaver not scarab.
Brood War EICWoo Jung Ho, never forget.| Twitter: @BLinDRawR
TL+ Member
KristofferAG
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Norway25712 Posts
July 04 2013 09:29 GMT
#9
That's what I get for watching wcs eu while writing the recaps T_T

Please don't let the elitists see it, they'll tear me a new one.
@KristofferAG | http://vestkyststoy.bandcamp.com | last.fm/user/KristofferAG
icystorage
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Jollibee19346 Posts
July 04 2013 09:30 GMT
#10
Sea tvz is good.
LiquidDota StaffAre you ready for a Miracle-? We are! The International 2017 Champions!
BLinD-RawR
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
ALLEYCAT BLUES50118 Posts
July 04 2013 09:30 GMT
#11
On July 04 2013 18:29 KristofferAG wrote:
That's what I get for watching wcs eu while writing the recaps T_T

Please don't let the elitists see it, they'll tear me a new one.


its ok yo nobody will go elitist on you.
Brood War EICWoo Jung Ho, never forget.| Twitter: @BLinDRawR
TL+ Member
corumjhaelen
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
France6884 Posts
July 04 2013 09:42 GMT
#12
Good write up. And yeah, Sea's performance was really convincing, haven't seen him play TvP that well since forever...
‎numquam se plus agere quam nihil cum ageret, numquam minus solum esse quam cum solus esset
Xenocide_Knight
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
Korea (South)2625 Posts
July 04 2013 09:56 GMT
#13
Sigh, I can't stay up to watch this but if Sea wins this.. I'll be so upset. If anyone deserves to lose to Killer in humiliating fashion, it's Sea.
Shine[Kal] #1 fan
KristofferAG
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Norway25712 Posts
July 04 2013 13:51 GMT
#14
Well, BD, I hope you cast these games, because they were geeewd. At least some of them. You'll love at least one of them. I think.
@KristofferAG | http://vestkyststoy.bandcamp.com | last.fm/user/KristofferAG
BisuDagger
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Bisutopia19230 Posts
July 04 2013 15:26 GMT
#15
On July 04 2013 22:51 KristofferAG wrote:
Well, BD, I hope you cast these games, because they were geeewd. At least some of them. You'll love at least one of them. I think.

Why did bisu make a guest appearance and 1v2 the srt finalists? Typical bisu style. Ill cast them tomorrow. its independence day baby!!! Happy fourth BW fans love you all!
ModeratorFormer Afreeca Starleague Caster: http://afreeca.tv/ASL2ENG2
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
WardiTV European League
16:00
Swiss Groups Day 4
goblin vs MaNaLIVE!
Jumy vs YoungYakov
WardiTV636
TKL 254
IndyStarCraft 252
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 575
TKL 254
IndyStarCraft 252
mcanning 122
UpATreeSC 84
JuggernautJason6
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 30407
Sea 2452
Larva 1231
EffOrt 1068
Stork 471
firebathero 373
Mini 336
Zeus 203
PianO 116
TY 62
[ Show more ]
Hyun 59
Sharp 56
Shine 34
Backho 33
sSak 26
scan(afreeca) 25
Hm[arnc] 9
Noble 7
Dota 2
qojqva4898
League of Legends
Dendi1223
Counter-Strike
pashabiceps733
sgares422
Stewie2K255
Super Smash Bros
Chillindude10
Other Games
FrodaN2241
Beastyqt637
ceh9427
B2W.Neo349
Lowko259
RotterdaM192
Skadoodle110
Trikslyr84
oskar74
elazer40
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick2751
StarCraft 2
angryscii 17
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH229
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Nemesis5106
• TFBlade308
Other Games
• imaqtpie1188
• Shiphtur230
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
6h 13m
OSC
6h 13m
Epic.LAN
18h 13m
CranKy Ducklings
1d 16h
Epic.LAN
1d 18h
CSO Contender
1d 23h
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
2 days
Bonyth vs Sziky
Dewalt vs Hawk
Hawk vs QiaoGege
Sziky vs Dewalt
Mihu vs Bonyth
Zhanhun vs QiaoGege
QiaoGege vs Fengzi
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
Online Event
2 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
3 days
Bonyth vs Zhanhun
Dewalt vs Mihu
Hawk vs Sziky
Sziky vs QiaoGege
Mihu vs Hawk
Zhanhun vs Dewalt
Fengzi vs Bonyth
[ Show More ]
Esports World Cup
4 days
ByuN vs Astrea
Lambo vs HeRoMaRinE
Clem vs TBD
Solar vs Zoun
SHIN vs Reynor
Maru vs TriGGeR
herO vs Lancer
Cure vs ShoWTimE
Esports World Cup
5 days
Esports World Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

JPL Season 2
RSL Revival: Season 1
Murky Cup #2

Ongoing

BSL 2v2 Season 3
Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL20 Non-Korean Championship
Championship of Russia 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25
BLAST Rivals Spring 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters

Upcoming

CSL Xiamen Invitational
CSL Xiamen Invitational: ShowMatche
2025 ACS Season 2
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
K-Championship
RSL Revival: Season 2
SEL Season 2 Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
FEL Cracov 2025
Esports World Cup 2025
Underdog Cup #2
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.