I haven't done a lot of interviewing and spotlights lately, and I'm sorry for that. I'm sure you understand that I have a few exams too. I still can do predictions however, and I haven't done so in a long while.
Woongjin vs. STX last round was greatly hyped by me and a lot of others too. STX and Woongjin were the closest competition to second and third place, and it was the last match of the round for both of them to boot. It turned out to be a 4-0 swipe to a lot of STX fans dismay and Stars fans rejoiced, since they looked poised to be the main competitor for SKT in the round to come. Now, however, things look much bleaker. STX is still in third place, but Stars just recently had their first win of the round. free and ZerO seemed to slump simultaneously, and Neo.G_Soulkey lost in disappointing ways too (although much less severely than the other two mainstays). Really was doing alright, but that wasn't unfortunately enough... Until when they finally defeated WeMade FOX 4-2 this week.
There is good reason to hope for Woongjin. ZerO and Neo.G_Soulkey both advanced in their respective MSL groups, and free got a few wins under his belt to at least somewhat repair his confidence. They must remember the exact same situation last round, and have positive memories of the ordeal, and a strong desire to prove themselves. The same goes for Really, and surprisingly, Terran rookie hOn_sin again. Woongjin can make a fresh start right here, and they must want it bad.
STX has had a less fortunate week. Although WeMade was defeated by them as well, the loss to ACE on Christmas day must have been a blow to their morale. On a positive note, however, there are 3 STX players in the OSL, Calm has made it through his MSL group, and the team rode a wave of very good momentum this round. The desire for payback must be strong among STX, and if Stars doesn't show their A game today, they might just get it.
Overall, I think STX will have the upper hand 4-2 due to a better momentum.
Woongjin Stars, will they defeat STX and end Round 2 with a 2-game winning streak?
Can Woongjin's recent breakout victory propel them into a winning streak?
On the 28th, Woongjin and STX will face off in both team's last game of Round 2.
Prior to the recent match versus WeMade, Woongjin was in a dreadful 7-game losing swamp. Despite finishing 7W2L/2nd place in Round 1, Woongjin fell all the way to 7th place due to the losing streak. Luckily they were able to finally snap out of it.
Although it's now too late for Woongjin to crack the upper ranks in Round 2, they can still set themselves in good position for the next round. SPL right now looks like this: SKT and Hite tied for 1st, and after that, only 1 game difference between 3rd place Samsung and 7th place Woongjin. In other words, it won't be hard to climb back up with a win or two.
Woongjin's last opponent of Round 2 is STX. STX is tied with Samsung for 3rd place. The good momentum STX was riding in the beginning of Round 2 seemed to evaporate as they lost to MBC and ACE recently. Specifically, in the match versus ACE, STX didn't really put up a fight as they crumbled 1:4.
The opportunity for Woongjin to catch up is now, but they won't be able to do so with ease. Although Woongjin dismantled STX in Round 1 with a sweep (4:0), STX has: Kal, the Protoss Player of the Year, a resurging Calm, and Modesty who qualified for Ro8 in OSL.
Woongjin still doesn't seem to be 100% recovered. Nonetheless, Woongjin will go for the win with the ace line of Zero-Free-Really supported by the rookie line of Neo.G_Soulkey-Crazy-Hydra (T/N: Crazy-Hydra is one person, as you all know). Moreover, Neo.G_Soulkey is strong against STX and Zero is 6-0 against Kal. If these players continue those trends, the match could quickly turn towards Woongjin's favour.
Can Woongjin forget the nightmares of the losing streak and end Round 2 on a winning note?
Source: fomos.kr
Poll: Who are you cheering for?
Woongjin Stars (26)
57%
STX SouL (13)
28%
I'm just hoping for good games. (6)
13%
Both! Decision making is for suckers! (1)
2%
46 total votes
Your vote: Who are you cheering for?
(Vote): STX SouL (Vote): Woongjin Stars (Vote): I'm just hoping for good games. (Vote): Both! Decision making is for suckers!
Poll: Who will win?
Woongjin Stars (16)
43%
STX SouL (15)
41%
I voted and didn't say anything at the same time. Take that, poll! (6)
16%
37 total votes
Your vote: Who will win?
(Vote): STX SouL (Vote): Woongjin Stars (Vote): I voted and didn't say anything at the same time. Take that, poll!
A fan of both teams, and they're similar in a lot of ways. Hoping for Stars simply because they've had a really rough r2. Under different circumstances I might not mind Stx taking this game, as long as it was close.
On December 28 2010 11:16 BLinD-RawR wrote: Can you Teach me how to make such sexy banners?....or at least ripoff sexy banners to make equally sexy ones?
I'd love to do those myself, but I have to settle with editing KasPra's ones. KasPra is a gentleman and a scholar, and I can do only very basic stuff in Photoshop. You can always PM him to ask him how he does it, but he has a bit of practice and theoretical knowledge that I don't think transfers too well in PM's.
Luckily for you, Disciple has made a thread for that exact purpose.
Thanks to being cursed with a very strict hierarchy dictating which teams I cheer for, it's time to cheer for Woongjin Stars today.
I'm jealous of people who don't cheer for anyone, though...their emotional well-being is not affected by events which are not under their control. Plus they can enjoy a display of skill in a game no matter who wins.
On December 28 2010 13:03 OpticalShot wrote: hey mustaju, there is a hype article on fomos. lengthy. will translate asap so it is as relevant as possible...
Hrmm, looks like the interviews from Stars beating Fox 2 days ago still isn't translated... It's kinda mind-boggling how we have main translator fans for each team except for poor Stars.
I mean, I would step up and translate their interviews, but I'm just so tired right now from having work this week, fffff-. If I don't fall asleep within the next hour or so though, we'll see how things play out. Must... stay up.... for SKT's last game tonight..... *Can feel bags under eyes get heavier* ==;;;
On December 28 2010 14:39 Spica wrote: Hrmm, looks like the interviews from Stars beating Fox 2 days ago still isn't translated... It's kinda mind-boggling how we have main translator fans for each team except for poor Stars.
I mean, I would step up and translate their interviews, but I'm just so tired right now from having work this week, fffff-. If I don't fall asleep within the next hour or so though, we'll see how things play out. Must... stay up.... for SKT's last game tonight..... *Can feel bags under eyes get heavier* ==;;;
It's not by who's a fan of who. I translate as much as I can, but the KR->CN translators usually leave out interviews... ;_;
On December 28 2010 14:39 Spica wrote: Hrmm, looks like the interviews from Stars beating Fox 2 days ago still isn't translated... It's kinda mind-boggling how we have main translator fans for each team except for poor Stars.
I mean, I would step up and translate their interviews, but I'm just so tired right now from having work this week, fffff-. If I don't fall asleep within the next hour or so though, we'll see how things play out. Must... stay up.... for SKT's last game tonight..... *Can feel bags under eyes get heavier* ==;;;
It's not by who's a fan of who. I translate as much as I can, but the KR->CN translators usually leave out interviews... ;_;
Oh srsly? That's just low, non-Stars fans KR->CN translators. >< It seems that they forgot about Stars's existence. @@;; Unfortunately, I'm getting sleepier and sleepier at the moment... And I have no caffeine on me.... FFS.
great muta micro from modesty, killed like 10 scourge with muta without taking a single hit and just rolled zero, even though zero had like a 2 drone advantage
that was honestly probably a bad trade for really shuttle has a good goon army really has a relatively weak economy, his second cc will only kick in after about a min and a half of production because those scvs were pulled pretty damn early
but shuttle is playing very passively he should have taken his third and used goon micro to clean any mines (don't think there are any atm) because he was at no risk from a attack by really (only vult harass at best)
shuttle missed the econ adv timing and the bust before mines timing now commentators are mentioning how he should go for either zeal speedup timing attack or hurry the fk up with his econ
SK with 2 creep colonies outside his nat, adding his 3rd at 3, Bogus going for a sunken break but mutas on the way. Enough turrets are up that Bogus should be safe. Bogus has mm trapped by ling muta force and almost loses all the marines but reinforcements come. 4 sunks morphing at SK's nat
Bogus sending a group to 3 to kill the newly hatched hatchery, SK"s mutas preventing additional marines from joining up. SK decides to harass Bogus with mutas but is taking heavy heavy damage. SK's 3rd is down and the MM force moving to SK's nat which has 6 sunks now. Hydra den done for SK
SK continuing to harass with mutas, killing scvs but losing many mutas in the process to turrets and mm. Lurkers out for SK, currently sitting in front of SK's nat, valkyrie out for bogus. Valk gets 3 shots off on the mutas damaging heavily. Lurkers slow pushing out of SK's nat.
SK moves out with all his lurkers and ling muta and destroy the marine force outside his nat, marine shooting SK's 3rd expo at 12. SK expanding to 3 and 4 also but all are spotted by bogus
soulkey is going to be a really damn impressive player if this keeps up, he's playing really well from a not-very-good position. Wtf is bogus doing though, where are his dropships and vessel?
SK's expo at 12 denied but 3 and 4 are up working. Bogus has tanks out now, mm fight lurkers near Bogus' 3rd with Bogus losing most of his marines. SK drops a small mm force at 4 but decides not to do anything with it. Bogus now pushing out with tanks, SK has small groups of lurkers everywhere. SK with defiler mound finished and 3 evo chambers.
Sci vessels finally out for Bogus, Bogus attempting vulture raids but SK has total map control and he's losing most vultures for no gain. SK taking over the whole map.
On December 28 2010 20:43 ELESSAR wrote: painful game. Both players just failed so bad. Almost pure tank army no vessels and sk still did not make mutas? WTF?
see those goliaths and the replacements for the vessels that sk RECENTLY sniped? yeah i thought you didn't.
and those rines that were there before the goliaths could kick in huehue
On December 28 2010 20:43 ELESSAR wrote: painful game. Both players just failed so bad. Almost pure tank army no vessels and sk still did not make mutas? WTF?
see those goliaths and the replacements for the vessels that sk RECENTLY sniped? yeah i thought you didn't.
and those rines that were there before the goliaths could kick in huehue
On December 28 2010 20:43 ELESSAR wrote: painful game. Both players just failed so bad. Almost pure tank army no vessels and sk still did not make mutas? WTF?
see those goliaths and the replacements for the vessels that sk RECENTLY sniped? yeah i thought you didn't.
and those rines that were there before the goliaths could kick in huehue
I was talking about the situation 5 min ago
You mean when bogus had a bunch of marines guarding his tanks?
excellent game by both players, especially soulkey
On December 28 2010 20:43 ELESSAR wrote: painful game. Both players just failed so bad. Almost pure tank army no vessels and sk still did not make mutas? WTF?
see those goliaths and the replacements for the vessels that sk RECENTLY sniped? yeah i thought you didn't.
and those rines that were there before the goliaths could kick in huehue
I was talking about the situation 5 min ago
mutas so good at sniping tank clouds with rines hugging them! new pro strat i think
On December 28 2010 20:43 ELESSAR wrote: painful game. Both players just failed so bad. Almost pure tank army no vessels and sk still did not make mutas? WTF?
see those goliaths and the replacements for the vessels that sk RECENTLY sniped? yeah i thought you didn't.
and those rines that were there before the goliaths could kick in huehue
I was talking about the situation 5 min ago
You mean when bogus had a bunch of marines guarding his tanks?
excellent game by both players, especially soulkey
Was I the only one that actually saw the game or you have just forgot what a good BW game looks like
Wow, between this and his game vs Fantasy, I'll never doubt soulkey's ZvT again. So rarely do you see zergs coming back from big disadvantageous situations.
On December 28 2010 20:43 ELESSAR wrote: painful game. Both players just failed so bad. Almost pure tank army no vessels and sk still did not make mutas? WTF?
see those goliaths and the replacements for the vessels that sk RECENTLY sniped? yeah i thought you didn't.
and those rines that were there before the goliaths could kick in huehue
I was talking about the situation 5 min ago
You mean when bogus had a bunch of marines guarding his tanks?
excellent game by both players, especially soulkey
Was I the only one that actually saw the game or you have just forgot what a good BW game looks like
What? Mutas vs marines on an open field with tanks? I have forgotten what a good BW game looks like, please enlighten me
On December 28 2010 20:43 ELESSAR wrote: painful game. Both players just failed so bad. Almost pure tank army no vessels and sk still did not make mutas? WTF?
see those goliaths and the replacements for the vessels that sk RECENTLY sniped? yeah i thought you didn't.
and those rines that were there before the goliaths could kick in huehue
I was talking about the situation 5 min ago
You mean when bogus had a bunch of marines guarding his tanks?
excellent game by both players, especially soulkey
Was I the only one that actually saw the game or you have just forgot what a good BW game looks like
I saw the game and the idea that soulkey should have made more mutas after bogus had marine/valk/vessel is just ridiculous
The idea you build un-upgraded mutalisks to "surprise" upgraded mech is a really silly thought anyway. You'll literally take a whole year to actually kill his army unless you spend everything on mutalisks.
there are so many people making notes on what the pros "should be doing" instead and more than half the time the recommendations suck loool
most pros have a more than competent sense of decision making of course there are small improvements that bystanders can suggest but for the most part they usually will make the gamebreaking ones themselves (please don't look at killer when i write this)
Mutas are very costly, and they're bad in that situation because you have to invest even more into upgrades or a greater spire so that your mutas can do something besides be an ineffective meat shield. The guy had 3 evo chambers running and was doing great with pretty cheap armies, his plan was fine. You can't point to one time like 20 minutes into the game when you think Bogus has no antiair and say Soulkey made a mistake by not turning into Jaedong.
If Bogus had pure vulture/tanks, muta switch would be good in conjunction with scourge to get rid of the SVs. At the very least you force the terran to make a bunch of goliaths rather than cost effective tank/vulture combo. But when you're macroing from 4-5 bases, mutas suck hard against MnMs. There's just no amount of APM enough to control your army and micro mutas..
Piano drops 11, gets owned by 2 lurkers. Hero taking 10 too, Piano pushing out with tanks marine + vessel to 10, first defiler gets irradiated, manages to swarm before it dies pushing back the tanks
I don't know how 4 dropships can drop marines that manage to do so little. I'm not really watching but it seems like the single thing they've achieved is kill a spire.
Hero losing his spire is hurting him as the vessel cloud gets larger and larger and he cant kill dropships. Hero instead uses gas to make cows and defilers, piano in trouble
"Oh, he has lings at my third. No need to clean them out with my filled dropships which he has seen already and just them continue eating my scvs."
"Oh, they're still there? Might as well make my vessels eraser them and kill the rest of my scvs there as well."
"Oh, ultralisks within walking range to my third? Might as well irradiate them and give them the chance to eraser my new scvs at my third."
"Don't have enough minerals to use all my rax? Might as well make another, because not only will it totally help, it will make a big difference soon I am sure seeing as his ultraling army is at my door."
Sair out for Kal, immediately shoots down an overlord before scouting, Kal being hit by a huge force of ling hydra, Kal pulling probes. Temp archives done for Kal, DT OUT just as CH tries to break.
2 DTS now at CH's 3rd killing eggs and a creep colony, CH pulls drones and sends hydras but no overlord, 2 overlords spawn and the hydras are taken out before the 3rd is killed.
Kal sees a few hydras and overlords at 9 and just runs in, CH fears losing his overlords and attacks the sairs as Kal snipes the 3rd with dts.. Kal adding 6 gates
Wow Kal nice way to go from that lead. Now what should I do when I have an advantage....hmm lets just walk up right into the middle of the map and see if the zerg is good enough to surround me!!
On December 28 2010 22:22 NovaTheFeared wrote: Free gave up map control by suiciding into Calm's nat unnecessarily and all his bases dying at once followed.
Still, the way how Calm capitalized after this not "that" disastrous mistake was amazing - not hesitating one second, just stomping free into the ground on multiple locations.
On December 28 2010 22:23 ZeaL. wrote: jesus, it seemed like free was about to break and then hoooly crap stuff started pouring out everywhere, every expo was under attack.
Cracklings are just so cheap and mobile, toss needs a firebat unit -,-
On December 28 2010 22:23 ZeaL. wrote: jesus, it seemed like free was about to break and then hoooly crap stuff started pouring out everywhere, every expo was under attack.
Cracklings are just so cheap and mobile, toss needs a firebat unit -,-
Or just make sure their initial 3 templars don't get sniped...
On December 28 2010 22:23 ZeaL. wrote: jesus, it seemed like free was about to break and then hoooly crap stuff started pouring out everywhere, every expo was under attack.
Cracklings are just so cheap and mobile, toss needs a firebat unit -,-
On December 28 2010 22:23 ZeaL. wrote: jesus, it seemed like free was about to break and then hoooly crap stuff started pouring out everywhere, every expo was under attack.
Cracklings are just so cheap and mobile, toss needs a firebat unit -,-
Archon?
Well its 10x more costy compared to firebat, but yea.
I like the decision by STX. I also like the decision by Stars. Problem for STX, modesty is weak outside zvz. Problem for Stars, Free is playing the worst SC of his career. This will be interesting.
Ah, got it. I understand a sniper, but I just expected a more solid player for the ace. Kal comes to mind, even if he hasn't been playing great lately.
On December 28 2010 22:33 mrflakes wrote: Ah, got it. I understand a sniper, but I just expected a more solid player for the ace. Kal comes to mind, even if he hasn't been playing great lately.
ace player doesnt mean solid player, it means a player you expect to win, against stars who have a mediocre terran lineup, modesty's bad zvt does not need to be considered, however he is better against zerg than anything else stx has, and free is in a slump, playing him maximizes stx's chance to win.
Hmm. STX zergs pulling up the team? It's good to see calm sort of come back. I was pretty sad when I saw him slumping, but he sort of has recovered...?
Wow wtf going on? Flash out of both individuals and modesty on a huge win streak? This is a sick round of proleague (also stars are like 1-6? something very bad)
On December 29 2010 02:28 hitthat wrote: WTF? Modesty was supposed to suck!!! I new he played good vs Fantasy, but hell, always i seen him as a scrub, and now he kills free/zero/fantasy? o_O
STX, a team full of surprises from where you don't see them coming. Both good and bad. Rooting for other teams (except for Ace and Stars) would simply be boring.
It's strange that so many zergs people had previously dismissed are racking up wins this season. A lot of them are poised to escape sub-50% records. I'm enjoying it in some cases but I can't help but wonder if something has changed other than the maps.
On December 29 2010 03:11 dani_caliKorea wrote: Free depresses me
Start sending Really out for Ace, Woongjin.
I've been thinking the same thing recently. Zero and Free tend to choke during Ace matches, which was one reason why Stars couldn't qualify for the play-offs last season. Time to change things and send Really. His TvZ has improved and he seems to be in good form overall.
On December 29 2010 03:11 dani_caliKorea wrote: Free depresses me
Start sending Really out for Ace, Woongjin.
I've been thinking the same thing recently. Zero and Free tend to choke during Ace matches, which was one reason why Stars couldn't qualify for the play-offs last season. Time to change things and send Really. His TvZ has improved and he seems to be in good form overall.
On December 29 2010 03:11 dani_caliKorea wrote: Free depresses me
Start sending Really out for Ace, Woongjin.
I've been thinking the same thing recently. Zero and Free tend to choke during Ace matches, which was one reason why Stars couldn't qualify for the play-offs last season. Time to change things and send Really. His TvZ has improved and he seems to be in good form overall.
Jaehoon is 6-1 against Terran this season. STX doesn't have anybody that can match that = Really's a good pick. (The 4-0 against Zerg is another good reason.)
On December 29 2010 03:11 dani_caliKorea wrote: Free depresses me
Start sending Really out for Ace, Woongjin.
I've been thinking the same thing recently. Zero and Free tend to choke during Ace matches, which was one reason why Stars couldn't qualify for the play-offs last season. Time to change things and send Really. His TvZ has improved and he seems to be in good form overall.
One thing i notice about Protoss players... their army control is simply put, terrible a lot of the time. The postioning and protection of high templars is always so bad its unbelievable... usually just a-moved into the opposing army then they might just get lucky and pull a few storms off while they slowly float into lurker spines. It's embarassing really, the same isn't as bad for vessels or defilers at all. I realize they are slow but cmon. Look after your templars!!
EPT
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/uH2Eu.png)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/teams/5.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/teams/6.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/teams/icons/uniforms/5.png){kind=icon}
STX SouL vs Woongjin Stars![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/teams/icons/uniforms/6.png){kind=icon}
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/qy0Uz.png)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/mgm2C.png)
It turned out to be a 4-0 swipe to a lot of STX fans dismay and Stars fans rejoiced, since they looked poised to be the main competitor for SKT in the round to come. Now, however, things look much bleaker. STX is still in third place, but Stars just recently had their first win of the round. 
free and 
ZerO seemed to slump simultaneously, and 
Really was doing alright, but that wasn't unfortunately enough... Until when they finally defeated WeMade FOX 4-2 this week. ![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/BQq73.png)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/J2myh.png)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/bQFjl.png)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/B4BtU.png)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/uWGX7.png)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1061446/jaehoon.png)
