Sonic and I have a love hate relationship, though I'm probably the only one aware of this relationship. Sonic is the backbone of Korean Brood War, but there is one thing he isn't very good at; announcing stuff in time. The final groups for the 17th SOSPA Ranking Tournament were released today. Just short of eighteen hours before the tournament starts. Luckily for all you readers, I work best under pressure of a deadline. I had been pushing up on the release date of the SRT16 Final Recap as well as the colour piece for this edition. This made me work my ass off and we get a nice product, rejoice!

It's that time again. Time for another person to leave us. Another writer burned out. KristofferAG will no longer be able to write the recaps weekly for us. He joined Brood War staff shortly after I did, at the start of this year. He first helped out with recommended VODs in SRT12 and stayed on recap duty since SRT14. Fortunately for us he will still be uploading all the games, and that's a feat on it's own. To replace him, I have recruited kerpal. Thanks for your time KAG, and welcome kerpal!

Now on to this huge article. First off is KristofferAG's last recap. The Consolation Match and Grand Final of the 16th SOSPA Ranking Tournament. Next up is my take on the scene, and who is supposed to take down Sea? Last out is the first part of the round of 32 preview. Watch Zeus play against ChRh in 2013 in just !

It took a while, but Mong eventually made it home for a best of three match to decide who went home with a small prize, and who went home with nothing. While Mong had already proven that he was once again playing well, hero was chasing his second third place finish in a row. I don't think anyone expected Mong and hero to produce the most entertaining games of the day.

While Mong went for a one barracks expand build, hero started off with an early three hatcheries before spire. Mong saw the spire, but only two of the hatcheries, and prepared accordingly. As Mong moved out with his bio army, hero went in with mutalisks. Though turrets were in time, the placement could've been better, and without marines to help with the defense, hero was able to grab multiple SCV and marine kills before Mong's army made it back. Zerg started transitioning into lurkers and a third base, while Mong was working on getting vessels out. Though he did manage to snipe hero's third, he lost his entire army in the process, and the third base was soon back up for hero. Mong moved out again soon, slow pushing along the top of the map, which allowed hero to get into position on the natural of Mong. Still, without dark swarm and with a bunker in place, Mong held easily. While hero kept up the pressure as his defilers popped, Mong kept defending nicely, while attempting to go for drops that were shut down fast and hard. He then tried to attack the third and fourth of hero at the same time, but ended up losing both armies. hero paid back in full as he shut down mining on Mong's third with lurkers and zerglings. Soon enough, the cows arrived. Mong tried taking the top left base, only to find a hatchery there. Though he did manage to destroy the base, he lost the task-force sent to do it. At this point Mong was still only building bio and vessels, and the lack of tanks hurt him hard when it came to pushing in against a zerg with defilers, ultralisks and multiple bases. Though Mong was able to trade one base for another again, he was still unable to push into hero's natural. With Zerg continuing to shut down any mining for Mong, it didn't take long for the gg to be called.



Things were looking up for the viewers, as the first game in the series already seemed to make up for the lack of entertaining games in the grand finals. Both Mong and hero opened with similar builds, hero opting for a lurker opening after three hatcheries, and Mong going bio with more tanks than in the last game. There was little action before hero secured his fourth and Mong got his vessels out. It looked somewhat grim for hero as Mong moved out before defilers arrived, but with an insane lurker count, he was not only able to hold off the attack, but even killed off Mong's reinforcements, and saved his fourth. Mong retreated, built a third base, and tried to hold off the attacks from hero. Though he was unable to secure his first third, he did get one up eventually, while denying hero's sixth base. A lurker drop was unable to do any substantial damage, but Mong suddenly found himself up against a dozen ultralisks, as hero skipped defilers in favor of raw strength. The third of Mong was denied, and it didn't take long before hero brutally wrecked what was left of Mong's army, grabbing the flawless victory.




I think it's fairly safe to say that everyone got pretty hyped up about the finals of the sixteenth SOSPA Ranking Tournament, where the two players topping the ELO rankings would face off against each-other in what turned out to be a best of seven match, while the third/fourth ended up being a best of three match because Mong was slightly delayed. Sadly, the games didn't really succeed in living up to the hype preceding it.

What better way to kick off a long grand finals than with some sweet cheese? Right off the bat Sea sent out an SCV to build a proxied barracks in the middle of New Hearthbreak Ridge, which got instantly scouted by one of Killer's drones, and then delayed for the longest time by a pesky drone. By the time it had finished, Sea had another barracks on the way, also proxied in the south part of the map, while Killer had a pool and his hatchery on the way. An overlord ended up scouting the second barracks, but Sea still managed to get enough marines out to make it a close race, as he took out the natural of Killer. The SCV pull ran into a bunch of zerglings and didn't get to do much except die. Sea did eventually make it into Killer's main to take out a macro hatchery, but the spire finished, and Sea had zero mining. With a bunch of zerglings and mutalisks Killer defeated Sea's minor army and claimed the first win.



Game two was another quick one. There were no proxies or very early aggression, as Sea grabbed his natural and Killer expanded twice. Sea soon moved out with a marine/medic force, which was scouted by Killer, but the firebats went unscouted until it seemed too late. Killer only had two sunkens to defend, and Sea was left with just a couple units after he had broken the front of Killer. The gg might have been a bit early, but with the reinforcements coming in from Sea, there would've been little the Zerg could do to defend his natural and main.

Both players opened with macro-oriented builds in the third round, Sea getting his CC after rax and Killer going for a hatchery first before pool, lair and spire. Everything got scouted instantly by Sea, who naturally assumed he would soon be facing mutalisks, and didn't get any bunkers. Which, when you play Killer, is probably a smart thing to do, always. A sudden large zergling force appeared in Sea's natural, killing off all the marines and medics. Though they were cleaned up, this meant Sea had zero defenses against the mutalisks, except for a lone turret in the mineral line. Sea had no chance.

At this point, all everyone wanted was a game that passed the ten minute mark, in this match-up we all love so much. Sea went for a bio opening and didn't take an expansion, while Killer went the macro route, getting out enough lings to scare Sea from moving out early, while teching up to spire and securing his three bases. Sea still refused to expand, and soon enough a fairly large and scary bio army with +1 attack upgrade moved out. Killer got lucky and found half of it before the rest of the force reached it, but the gg was thrown out almost instantly when he saw just how much Sea actually had, knowing he couldn't possibly defend against it. The next game was so short it doesn't even deserve a paragraph of its own. Sea built his initial rax a bit forward, but ended up sending two SCVs and three marines cross-map to the five o'clock position, while Killer, who opened pool first, spawned at one. The zerglings caught the marines, and Sea called it after about three minutes.



So, we're back on New Heartbreak Ridge, and we finally get what we asked for, a fairly good TvZ. Sea started out with a barracks rallied towards Killer's natural before his expansion, while getting his natural for himself. His initial marine was killed off without doing more than seeing the natural, while Killer teched towards his patented muta play. Somehow, an SCV managed to get a full scout of Killer's base, allowing Sea to prepare, getting his turrets up just in time for the arrival of the mutalisks. While Sea was forced to defend, Killer got an expansion and teched up to lurkers, while Sea got his first vessel and tank out. The Terran force soon moved out through the middle of the map, sieging up outside the natural, which forced a reaction from Killer. Even with losing a couple lurkers to a mis-click, he was able to crush the first of Sea's armies. At home, another fairly large army was ready, and Sea had a third base up. The second push was crushed once again, as dark swarm covered the battlefield, but Killer once again was left with an army too small to counter with. Killer soon started putting on a lot of pressure on Sea's third and soon his new fourth, but the defense was far too strong. It was only with a drop into Sea's main that the Zerg was able to actually do any substantial damage, taking out multiple supply depots before it was eventually cleaned up. A second drop seemed too much for Sea to handle, so his response was to grab a fifth base and counter-attack, mowing down Killer's fourth, while defending his own expansions with siege tanks. As the huge bio force moved into Killer's last mining base, gg was called.

So with everything tied up at three to three, we moved on to New Wind and Cloud, where the openings were fairly similar to the last game. Sea was able to do some minor damage with his first group of marines, but Killer paid back in full by surrounding a large bio force in the middle of the map and taking it out. Instead of going the mutalisk route, he went for faster lurkers, while Sea had prepared for the mutalisks with a lot of turrets. Realizing he was facing lurkers, Sea went for a drop attack, which got killed off instantly with scourge. Even with that loss, Sea was able to hold Killer's push on his natural without losing any siege tanks, and when he once again killed off the Zerg army while counter-attacking, Killer called it quits, knowing well he couldn't produce enough units off two bases to fight the incoming Terran force.

Another season goes by, another gold for Sea. This makes Sea's fourth SOSPA Ranking Tournament title, and the third in a row. Which is quite unheard of. Right now, Sea is definitely to be considered the untouchable at the top, the dominant player that you don't expect anyone to win against. In his winners' interview in the semifinals he said; "Killer doesn't look that good, but he wins anyway. Now I'm going on vacation soon, so I will try to win before leaving". A vacation well deserved, but he was still listed in the preliminary list of the next tournament; the seventeenth SOSPA Ranking Tournament.



We are still quite not getting rid of Sea. But in his own words; "BUT JANGBI IS HERE NOW". Recently there has been an abundance of ex-progamers retiring. Four of them stands out among the rest, as people that can usurp Sea's kingdom.

JangBi - Undeniably the best Protoss at the end of pro Brood War in South Korea. Back to back OSL's is something only BoxeR and Jaedong has achieved before him. JangBi isn't going to the military soon and he is quite the friend with Kim Carrier. This makes it very likely for him to actually participate in SOSPA competitions. We will probably see him in the next SSL. If this man starts playing a lot, Sea is probably done for.


BeSt - He was supposed to play in SRT16 before leaving for his military service at the end of September. Unfortunately he didn't play after dropping out at the last second for unknown reasons. Luckily for us it doesn't seem like BeSt is going to the military as he is in the preliminary list of players for SRT17. Unless Sonic is playing tricks on us, BeSt isn't actually leaving us before playing in tournaments. BeSt definitely has the PvT capable of demolishing Sea, but unlike JangBi, there are a lot of Zerg that can stop his landslide. For more about BeSt, I recommend Hyde's piece: The Warrior Within.




Jaehoon - The founder of the MBC Recalls. He and Tyson go hand in hand. They play so bad that the opponent eventually underestimates them, and at the first moment of overextension they strike. Jaehoon is a scrappy Protoss. He does weird stuff that somehow seem to succeed. Unlike the other four, Jaehoon as been actively streaming and is on the list for SRT17. It's highly likely that he will be a mainstay in SOSPA competition. But he is also the player with the least amount of skill impact on the scene. He doesn't have the super stardom factor that the others have. The man has character though, and will provide something that the others simply just can't.


Bisu - He has said something along the lines of, and I'm paraphrasing; "I'm not going to play Brood War", "I'm not going to stream Brood War", and "I'm not going to participate in SOSPA competitions". Just today, on the 20th of September 2013, Bisu played against Larva. I'm fairly sure whatever Bisu is trying to convince everyone, including himself, is just a bunch of denials. Bisu, you can't deny what you were meant to do. As much as this might be true, I'm also having thoughts about it being me who is in denial. The future of Bisu is shrouded in mists.


We are currently getting an abundance of new players in every tournament. People have voiced their concern about there not being enough players. What happens when all the current players get too old, when they stop playing? Everytime there is a new round of 32, I have to read up on some random unknown trainee or semi-progamer. And guess what? I love it, and as far as I'm concerned there is a plethora of untapped talent out there.

Sea is still safe in the near future. Land ahoy!

Wow what a group. What a second match to open up the tournament with. Although Terror and Hi are the huge favourites, Zeus and ChRh are the players we want to see. Especially the match-up against each other. ChRh last played a professional game of Brood War in late summer 2008. A whopping five years ago. His first match goes all the way back to right after the millennium shift in early 2000. That's thirteen years ago, that's a long freaking time. Under his career he managed to get third place in both Hanaro and NATE OSL. His highlight was winning the 2nd iTV Ranking League in 2001, beating the likes of SKELTON, H.O.T-Forever, TheMarine, and of course BoxeR himself. He managed to do this with not only his Terran, but with his Zerg and Protoss as well. He went 3-1 against BoxeR, winning two PvT's, one TvT, and losing one ZvT.

Zeus is also a first generation progamer, starting his career just four months after ChRh. Zeus didn't find much success until 2003, where he managed to take the bronze in Stout MSL, winning against people like XellOs and ChoJJa. He almost made the final, going up 2-0 against NaDa before getting reverse swept. In the following Starleague, NHN OSL, he managed to get all the way to the final. The only tough opponents he had to face were Reach and NaDa, who he both beat. Zeus eventually lost against Nal_rA in the final. Zeus ended his carrer in 2008 before becoming a coach. To read more about these two players history check out Liquipedia: ChRh & Zeus.



So who has the realistic chance of winning? Terror definitely stand as the most known SOSPA player among the four. His recent return in SRT16 showed that he at least can still put up a fight against the lower tier players. Luckily for him, Hi is one of those lower tiered players. PvZ seems to be Hi's best match-up but I don't think that's enough to beat Terror. ChRh is 9-6 lifetime against Zeus, with all of the games played between 2000 and 2002. It's impossible to say what's happened in the eleven years since they last met. I'm thinking Pretty Boy Terran has some tricks up his sleeve.

Generally there isn't much to be said other than that new-school progamers have a huge advantage with their superior mechanics. I don't think either ChRh or Zeus will advance. But I'm still happy because we will see (at least) one best of three between these hyungs.

Terror and Hi to advance.




Another group with one untested former progamer and a trainee that hasn't played in proper competitions in a long time. Britney played on Hite SPARKYZ, and was fielded seven times in proleague and played three games in the 20th MBC Survivor. His total record was 3-7, which sounds bad, but when you hear his opponents, it's quite a decent score. His three wins were against Shuttle, July, and Stork. His losses includes opponents like Jaedong, ZerO, and Iris. Quite impressive for a rookie. Hm[ArnC] was just a trainee, and never managed to obtain a progaming license. Without a record it's hard to say much about him other than that he might as well be considered an amateur recently joining the SOSPA competition, much like Starry. Britney should have the opening match.



On to the main event of the group. This match will decide whoever gets out in first and who gets out in second. Both these players are located in the top ten in the SOSPA Power Rank, and for good reasons. They are giants. Recently I thought hero's ZvT had improved but alas he still loses to, in my opinion, worse players. HiyA on the other hand is the one with the second best TvZ in the scene. No matter how good hero's ZvT was I wouldn't favour him, unless it was at the level of Killer's.

I don't think either HiyA or hero can lose to the two others in the group. It should be a clear cut.

HiyA and hero to advance.




In my opinion the most consistent group in skill, and the overall most exciting one. Cola hasn't been good for the entirety of 2013. Once a very respectable player, has now fallen into obscurity. Scan on the other hand surprised many last season by winning one game against Movie, and almost winning the series. With Cola's terrible record in ZvT, Scan should take home the opening match.

Just by looking at the group, the safest bets are Sky and Mong. Although, both these players have a tendency to either screw up games they have in the bag or just slumping hardcore. Sky had an incredibly hard group last season and is probably eager to take some of that shoe farm money. Mong had a great last season and is hopefully gonna continue on that streak.



Sky and Mong should both be favoured against Cola and Scan. But I can see Scan upsetting either of them. This will be a fun group to watch as they are all somewhat close in skill.

Sky and Mong to advance.




In my opinion the weakest group, except for maybe group A. StarCue is the laughing stock of SOSPA. He is on an eighteen losing streak, with the lowest ELO by over 100 points, at 1777. It's so bad that he doesn't even own an ELO peak. Not much can be said about his opponent; Starry. An amateur Zerg in the clan Ever. He was supposed to play last season but got switched for more famous or skilled players. This season we will finally see what this guy is all about. I'm expecting him to beat StarCue, if he loses he can say goodbye to SOSPA.



Pusan and Ample are the middle-tier mainstays, usually going to the round of 16, sometimes the quarterfinals, and very rarely the semifinals. Both of them are consistent and generally play very nice and solid games. They are 2-2 in head to head score, with Pusan winning the two most recent ones in SRT15. Pusan loves going carriers in PvT, and I love watching it, even though it hurts my oily Terran heart. Pusan should beat Ample, and both of them will win the games against the Zerg.

Pusan and Ample to advance.