The second half of the Ro32 opened up with one of the most memorable games of SSL10 so far, a battle between gods, hero and Zeus. After opening with a two gate, Zeus was able to survive against a hydra bust. He gained the upper hand by establishing a stronger economy through solid macro, good control and being aggressive. However, a moment of passiveness was all that hero needed as he seized this opportunity to double expand, get defilers and eventually drop Zeus to death. In the other match, a calmer battle raged on between Major and GuemChi. While Major opted for grabbing a faster third, GuemChi went for the pride of the Protoss, carriers on 2 bases. When both players engaged each other for the first time, it was clear that GuemChi held the advantage due to small amounts of AA units. With his carrier count reaching critical mass, GuemChi used positioning and decent carrier micro to slowly pick off units before finishing Major off with goon and zealot support.


Having beaten Zeus, hero only had to beat GuemChi on Fighting Spirit to grab the honor of being the first Zerg to advance. Very little skirmishes took place early on aside from an intense corsair chase leading the commentators to discuss their own driving skills. While hero went for hydras, GuemChi stuck to a standard composition adding in reavers. Sloppy control from GuemChi during several engagements coupled with fantastic surrounds and godly macro from hero were more than enough for the young Zerg to take the game. The losers' match saw Zeus play for the long game against Major. After his third was sieged, Zeus rushed blindly towards Major's expansion triggering several spider mines on the way before trying a bulldog attack. His attack failed leaving his army in shambles and unable to stop the inevitable strong mech push.

The showdown for the final spot took place on Blue Storm between Major and GuemChi. Both players opened up with unique strategies, GuemChi's double steal of Major's gas and Major's engineering bay in GuemChi's natural. GuemChi became the harass king sneaking in three zealots to do lots of damage and followed it up with several reaver drops that kept Major on two bases. In the meantime, he went up to four bases and with a big macro advantage, crushed Major's paltry army. Despite Zeus getting a power-up from being a dad, he, along with Major, will need to practice much harder to advance in future tournaments.










Group F started off with a match between rivals, Larva and Sharp. On Sin Peaks of Baekdu, Larva utilized his great mutalisk micro to slowly pick apart Sharp, transitioning to guardians to deal the killing blow. The next match saw Pure open with the notorious two gate against By.Spire, possibly as a homage to Zeus! Initially, his plan seemed to work as By.Spire started focusing solely on zergling production however it soon backfired as Pure found himself struggling to fight off the flood of zerglings. After he stabilized, he counterattacked hitting the perfect timing window to beat the (almost) defenseless By.Spire.


Pure continued his strong play in the winners' match. His relentless aggression backed by solid macro was enough to break Larva's expansion slaughtering many overlords and drones in the process. The leftover army attacked Larva's main forcing him to concede defeat. In the losers' match, both Sharp and By.Spire tried to redeem themselves after their shaky performances. On Return of the King, By.Spire played a very risky but entertaining game relying mostly on mutalisk micro to try and beat Sharp. Alas, after grabbing an advantage early on, By.Spire faltered losing lots of mutalisks on the back of many mistakes and good MnM control from Sharp. He was forced to tap out after he was not able to impede Sharp's strong push.


With their earlier game in mind, Sharp was ready for Larva's mutalisks this time around. Larva took things one step further as he used map architecture to his advantage by constantly translocating his lurkers preventing Sharp from reaching his third with his MnM force. This gave him enough time to tech to defilers. With 6 bases under his control and all of the tech available, Larva transitioned to hydras in response to Sharp's mech switch and took the game after a crackling drop tore apart Sharp's base. Both Sharp and By.Spire put on some great performances and were close to succeeding at times. It was just not enough to overcome Larva and Pure.










A group consisting of mostly Protoss players (Free, Tyson and Lazy) and HiyA, we were treated with some entertaining micro-oriented games. HiyA had the most to prove after he called out all the players during the group selection ceremony. Up against Lazy on Sin Peaks of Baekdu, he played a flawless game while Lazy tried to gain an advantage with a hidden two base carrier build. HiyA scouted this and pushed towards Lazy's expansion establishing a strong position outside his natural to easily take the game. He went on to face Free who ended up dominating Tyson in the first PvP of SSL. After struggling to survive against the two gate opener of free, Tyson lost his expansion to the followup dark templar attack which he was not prepared for. Playing from behind, a last ditch attempt with a reaver drop was not successful (got sniped) due to free's map awareness and positioning.


On Fighting Spirit, free opened up the game with some early zealot harass which did no damage. HiyA went for an early attack of his own dishing out some major damage due to sheer micro. He ended up advancing in first place after his followup push was successful due to establishing a strong offensive position and failed breakout execution by Free. With their SSL lives on the line, Lazy and Tyson faced off on Return of the King. Once again, Lazy decided to use the fog of war to his advantage grabbing an expansion and teching to reavers however Tyson's game sense kicked in as he scouted the expansion and destroyed it to gain the economical advantage. He did not relinquish the lead and won the game by taking major engagements.


Tyson and free started off their final game with the same opening as their earlier game however Tyson deflected free's attack putting him behind. Though free made several mistakes uncharacteristic of someone of his caliber, his good decision making skills and unit control allowed him to survive Tyson's assault not once, but twice! After grabbing the army lead, he finished off the game in classic fashion. At the end of the day, Tyson and Lazy could not stand up to the juggernauts, HiyA and free. Tyson, with better luck, has a fighting chance in future SSLs while Lazy requires a lot of practice to get on the level of the other players.










There was no better way to end the Ro32 than with one of the most highly anticipated groups featuring back to back OSL champion Jangbi, MSL champion Mind, Shuttle and Modesty. Mind stole the spotlight early on with his performance. In his first game against Shuttle on Sin Peaks of Baekdu, he managed to build a bunker outside Shuttle's expansion. Though the bunker was not able to range the nexus, Mind was still able to take it down. With mines at his disposal and two tanks joining his army, Mind was able to push up Shuttle's ramp and into his main to win a one-sided game.

His performance became stronger in the winners' match against Modesty who beat Jangbi in the previous match. Mind came prepared with a wraith build however Modesty deflected it with ease pushing Mind to the brink of elimination through constant zergling and mutalisk aggression. Despite the chaotic situation, Mind maintained his composure, tried his best to defend while minimizing losses and recovered in quick fashion which was helped by the fact that Modesty ended up overstretching with his attacks. With a stronger economy and good MnM micro, Mind was able to negate Modesty's good surrounds in their engagements taking out his third base to win the game.


With Mind advancing in first place, all eyes turned back to the rest of the contenders, specifically Jangbi considering his disappointing SSL9 performance. His first game against Modesty was one of pure disappointment. After opening with a two gate, Jangbi was not able to hold against the two base zergling all-in from Modesty losing the game in record time. That was all that was needed to awaken the champion! In the losers' match on Return of the King, both Jangbi and Shuttle opted for the macro game. While Shuttle won several engagements due to superior positioning, Jangbi's constant harass throughout the match chipped away at Shuttle's probe count strengthening his own economy in the process. The stronger economy allowed Jangbi to produce the superior army to win the game.


This set up a rematch on Blue Storm that saw both Jangbi and Modesty go all out for the final spot. Utilizing small zealot squads, dark templar harass and storm drops, Jangbi kept on reducing Modesty's drone count while simultaneously defending his own bases. Modesty also dropped Jangbi and harassed several of his bases at once with both players eventually trading bases at one point. The game ended up being one of the most entertaining games of the Ro32 with the players microing their hearts out on several fronts and trying to out-multitask each other. This was BW at its finest! Go watch this gem now! In the end, Jangbi advanced in second place after jangbanging Modesty.

Had Modesty ended up in another group, he would have likely advanced considering his stellar performance. It is unfortunate that he had to end up in a group of death. Shuttle also showed some good games though he'll need to improve his harass methods if he wishes to advance in future SSLs.

Hello and best of luck in the next year. ^^ Happy New Year! [TN: This was in English] Well, I think I am the best player in this Starleague so there is not a particular player that comes to mind, haha.


I would like to face a Zerg player. Even hero would be fine, I think we could show some fun games.


I like this group better than I liked the one in round of 32. Also, there are many Zerg favored maps in this league but considering there are barely any Zergs left, I should be able to prepare easily.


While I do prefer playing Zergs, since the maps favored them heavily I thought playing a Terran would be better.


I remember having an even better winrate, it dropped quite a bit as I practiced less and grew older.. Now that I am playing in leagues again, I will work hard to try and push it up to 70%.


Rather than lots of practice, my style always included a lot of thinking and psychological warfare. Always repeating to myself that I excel over other players, I seem to achieve better results than by grinding games.


I was able to meet many of my fans through Afreeca streaming and this often left me feeling really thankful. Of course, that is still the case even now, haha.


There was this picture of me for an interview once and the Chinese fans all said that I look like the Chinese actor Edison Chen in it. This actor's nickname is Teacher Chen and since his family name is the same as mine (Chinese Chen = Jin in Korean), I adopted that as well.


I recently started my business through a global communication service which is something available to fans all over the world so I would appreciate it if you can give it a look, haha. In the future I would like to try my luck in many other business fields and gain a lot of experience. You can find my homepage here: http://jinmovie.acndirect.com and by clicking on your country's flag you will be able to see the services available in your region (internet, mobile, energy, etc.) ^^


Back then I was learning English but nowadays I'm learning Chinese so I haven't been able to improve my English skills that much. I think I'd be able to briefly introduce myself, haha.


Firstly, I wish you all the best in 2015! I felt like the time I spent with my fans as the progamer Jin Young Hwa, or MOVIE, was too short so I decided to participate in the Starleague. Every game I get to play feels really precious and I will strive to leave my fans with even more fond memories.

Eight Protoss remain in this tournament. Stork's bold declaration that PvP is the biggest coinflip in BW still rings true today - as players have a far harder time mechanically distinguishing themselves in this wildly lethal match-up, wreaking potential havoc on those who would try and predict the groups' outcomes. Many of the remaining Terran players are lauded for their exceptional TvP, but the lack of Zerg in SSL10 means it's very likely that the racial chasm will only widen. That is not to say a Zerg won't ultimately win, but for now, get ready for a tonne of high-level PvT. (Eleven of them!)

Mong

Movie

Pure

Mini

This is a familiar sight for those of us that watched Ro32. An entertainer famous for his TvP finds himself in a favorable group of two inconsistent Protoss and, well, a consistent Protoss. In this case, we look to Movie to show us he'll never be irrelevant.

Two years ago Movie had by far the best PvT in the amateur scene. Since his retirement from professional Starcraft his presence in the late stages of so many leagues allowed him to rival HiyA, Sea and Mong, players that come to mind when someone says "TvP" in the afreeca scene. Though, mostly due to inactivity, he's partially lost Omnitoss status in 2014 to newcomers Bisu and Snow and continues a long rivalry against the waning Shuttle, he also sports what may be the strongest PvP in this Ro16. Provided he can summon himself, this is his group to win, and his battle with Mong is the game to watch this group.

Mong, who stylishly conquered the easiest group of the Ro32 (which he totally cheated to land in), surely houses the potential to crush this group as well. With only one strong match-up to prepare against Protoss of varying threat levels, his head-to-head histories and solid form of late make the Pig Terran a favorite. Mong would need to drop all the momentum he's built in December not to advance here, and they're likely to be entertaining sets as well. PvT lovers have a lot to look forward to this month, in other groups as well.


Mini, who knocked down two Terran with characteristically dominant play to advance here, and then simply rolled over and died with an atrocious showing in the Ro32 of 41SL, is not favored by this much harder group. The miniboss spent the past year trading sets with the best in PvT and PvP, and even making a name for himself in PvZ, but not making any strong claim to a match-up due to inconsistency in high-level games. Like his draconic STX predecessor, Kal, Mini has proven wildly unpredictable for a Protoss, and depending on the day, you don't know if he's going to open up with everything and beat all odds or just self-destruct. His solid record against match-up masters like Shuttle and HiyA proves he CAN do it, but he'll be pressed for an answer to Movie and Mong.

Pure, who, in rare enough form to defeat two Zergs and cruise on to the Ro16, is also coming off a 3-0 sponsored loss to Mong last month, is not as likely to advance as the rest. Still, Pure did bonk HiyA out of the LoveTV KOTH in December and take games off all the other Terran he fought. Since he's only been sponsored in two match-ups lately, the only question is whether Pure's PvP is up to snuff nowadays. We can safely predict that it isn't, but hey, it's PvP. Maybe Pure'll exhibit marginally better form than Movie on the 25th. And versus Mini, who can predict how that'll turn out?

To win as Protoss, you have to have guts. To beat Protoss, however, you need that cognitive edge (or hydras), and Movie and Mong have that edge, along with plenty of guts to go around. Mini is likely to be a disruptive force and Pure's best match-up remains the mirror match, so this still could be a close group.

Mong and Movie to advance.

Mind

JangBi

PianO

free

After advancing, PianO waited at length, restreaming the remaining Ro32 games, for Zergs. He was rewarded for his patience with doom. Two motivated Dragons clash overhead, along with a Dragon-slayer, leaving our musical demon forced into the opportunity he so desired to repair his "weak to Protoss" reputation. In this strong group of TvP, PianO is only barely disfavored. Armed with one of the best TvTs in the business, he is expected to secure that crucial win on the 18th against Mind. The question is: can he then pull a 1-1 against the Dragons and finally break the mould this tournament? With wins posted on less threatening figures of Jangbi and free earlier this year, it's up to speculation. The choke is just as possible as the victory.

What can be said about free? The Battle God's gameplay isn't so Pretty these days but he's still a cut above other Protoss with rock solid mid-late micro, Dragon-esque gamesense, and general adherence to standard play. Jangbi is not "other Protoss" however, he's a transcendent destroyer and God of Clutch Storms ... on the rebound. Free has a chance against anyone here, especially if his recent rate of improvement continues. No one in this group is likely to be as hard to beat as an in-form HiyA was.


Free weathered the brutal Tyson to join the fun here, but JangBi weathered an in-form PvP specialist Shuttle. Jangbi is prepared to crush anyone at the mirror and the last time he was on OGN, he was disassembling FanTaSy. This hard group is a lucky break for Jangbi, and he proved in the Ro32 that he's not happy with only two OSL golds. Wait, if this is a StarLeague on OGN, does that mean this is enough of an OSL for Jangbi to grab that OSL Golden Mouse? Oh glory, that would be awesome. Though it'd be just as nice if Killer had survived his own hard group to make a run for the SSL Golden Shoe. Plenty of Protoss to go around. BUT NONE OF THEM ARE JANGBI.

Mind rounds out the group as a Terran we can actually expect to take down the Dragons. Known for his TvP for the better half of this decade, Mind proved worthy by disassembling rival Shuttle in the opening match of Ro32 Group H and advanced first from the group of death. His TvP last year has not been unstoppable, but he's still kept it above 60%. If Mind has a weakness coming into play here, it's his TvT, but it's difficult to even call it a weakness since his 40% record against PianO isn't even that bad. With isolated wins posted over all the Terran titans, he needs only summon a little consistency to be the final nail in PianO's coffin.

Rommel and Almighty braved the group of death only to end up in the new one, but they're likely to have an easier time advancing against the fleet admiral (who is weak to Protoss), and the Battle God (who is not as likely to pull a Jangbi as Jangbi) than against Shuttle and Modesty previously. Still, this is going to be the closest group of the four. Be sure to watch as someone else's favorite player goes down in flames.

Mind and Jangbi to advance.

sSak

hero

Sea.KH

Snow

From the safety of our mountain camp, staring through the blinding ice, we can make out the shape of our hero. The storm advances through him and all around him, blowing on his back, but he has long since mastered the Snow; flashes of lightning above, though they set his loyal war-hound aquiver, serve only to illuminate the beckoning shape of a too-familiar adversary, the stalwart guardian of the mountain, sSak.

sSak's TvZ is not the stuff of nightmares, but he has an unmatched record against by.hero, stretching back to the SSL8 3rd-place match in Spring 2013. Although hero's ZvT is better today than it has ever been, and sSak has just gone 3-3 against a bunch of dead Zergs, it remains unlikely that hero will be able to take the game played against him. As for sSak's TvP, in which he is more confident than in his TvZ: he's been going roughly even with all the Protoss he's run into, save a long, embarassing record against Sky. sSak's got nothing recorded on Sea.KH, who he's not likely to implode versus, and he's got nothing against Snow, who is the most likely candidate to advance.


I mentioned previously that hero is favored over any Protoss in SSL10, and this group is no exception. Coming off a brilliant denial on a springloaded Zeus, hero should be able to defeat Snow or KH without much difficulty. But his terrible history against Terran, in particular sSak, may be enough to knock him out of this group entirely if he can't guarantee wins over both Protoss. hero has something of a ZvT, one that's sufficient to take a third of his games against the top Terran and steal a Bo5 from an unprepared PianO (which makes him the only amateur Zerg to have a winning record on the Cutemaster). This is an critical opportunity to break his ZvP sniper mould. With Zerg on the verge of extinction in SSL10, hero must rise to the challenge and prove he has no such weakness to Terran. It's time to bust out the hero sandwich.

Snow, this year's rising hope for Protoss, continues to build momentum with each win. As one of the few Protoss still capable of providing a check to the TvP lords, Snow has more recently plowed through Kwanro and run circles around GuemChi in a ten-minute horrorgate scrap, granting him a total of three match-ups currently worthy of fear. Hovering around 250-300 APM, Snow is not likely to drop a mirror to a budding amateur such as KH. In fact, no one in this group is. KH's return to competition has consisted of edging out victories over absurdly weak groups, and it is here, among sSak and the specialists, that the SSL3 and SRT3 champion of old will taste bitter defeat. Snow's record against hero leaves much to be desired, but if everything progresses predictably, he won't need to worry about it.

Because of the present counter triangle between players and KH's perceived weakness (though as far as unproven amateurs go he's pretty darn strong), Group C is the most likely to reach three-way tiebreakers. Sea.KH shouldn't take more than a random win. Snow vs sSak will be interesting: sSak modestly advanced from one of the harder groups by just playing standard and pushing out, while Hokuto no Protoss Snow only sees in sSak the arrogance of a future frostbite victim. If the hero of Zerg has one advantage over the Terran guardian before him, it's that he knows from experience that he can defeat the Snow.

hero and Snow to advance.

HiyA

Larva

Last

GuemChi

hero's group is hard, but Larva's is nearly impossible. A healthy, practiced fishiking and the hot-handed machine Last are forcing Larva to prove his ZvT is legitimately coming into form. He's not likely to advance without that.

Larva's mutalisk control is coming into its own as the hardworking BJ struggles on the path to domination. Taking a Bo5 from an stylish PianO last month with standard mid-late play and beating ex-KHAN Terran Sharp twice for this Ro16 spot, Larva at long last looks like a threat in his historically worst match-up. Larva peaked at #2 on the recently reset Fish Ladder where he held onto top ten in the final ladder season of 2014. Unfortunately, Larva experienced stage nerves and displayed weak unit control against the likes of Pure and Mind, and no amount of online practice with the likes of PianO can fix that. If he wants to stand a chance against the two Terran monsters in this group, he'll need to make like they're Sharp and micro like Modesty, despite his discomfort onstage. That TV experience will be something the rest of this group has over him.

The final boss of his clan Ever and former king of Fish, Last returns to OnGameNet Brood War in prime form. Last vs NsP's HoGiL, the Bo1 Super ACE match that closed out the third Hope ClanLeague Finals, was the spirit of 2014's TvZ made manifest, in which a berserk HoGiL macroed up mass muta, lurkers, ultraling, guardians, and the kitchen sink until his side of the map was bare, but still ultimately lost out to the resilient mech of Last, who'd survived the absurd pressure and split the map.


Although he's proven himself to be several tiers above the masses in all three match-ups (taking the Fish summer season last year), Last's apparent inability to subjugate the Afreeca lords has given him diminished presence on Fish and on the Ro16 stage, leaving him as an afterthought to take this tournament. Hovering comfortably at 400 APM, Last has a lot of advantages to flex. With minimal data on his post-retirement capacity to take critical LAN games, however, Last will likely have more trouble against HiyA than his other opponents. That will be the game to watch, however, since both Terran are verifiably awesome at the mirror. Expect Last's games to go long, as he's been observed to play towards the center of the field and favor the long game, where his input efficiency matters most.

GuemChi is the weakest of the strong players in this group. The Chisel is odd because he represents a limbo of competitive play, being able to capitalize strongly on the mistakes of weak players but rarely setting the pace against those stronger than him. Being so solid, it's clear that his performance is more dependent on the form his opponents take than his own, to take nothing away from whatever he may prepare. He'll be watching and waiting for those Terran to screw up and cede to him their precious points. If that doesn't happen, he's as good as gone, and it's hard to expect otherwise. HiyA is HiyA and Last has proven himself better in TvP this year than any other match-up.

HiyA is basically here to sink three boats and advance, and there's little more to say. Leaving three mastered match-ups and a solid showing in 2014, the strongest amateur year, HiyA kicked 2015 off with convincing wins against free and Lazy, showing why he's favored over the remainder of this group. With signature mineplay and honed gamesense, Magikarp's easy path through this group can only be threatened by Last, a ex-pro TvT specialist. HiyA holds the best winrate in 2014's TvT, so it will likely be a sight to see. If you like TvT, that is. But why wouldn't you? It's brilliant!

This is very likely to be the end of Larva's competitive run, which bodes poorly for this already-half-Toss Ro16. If he can just summon the spirit of his fanbase and triumph here, the odds are he'll have an easier time in the Ro8.

HiyA and Last to advance.

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WRITERS: BigFan, N.geNuity, prech, Stratos & Mirabel_
GRAPHICS: Hyde
EDITORS: kjwcj
PHOTOS: TLPD, dailyesports & StormsinJuly