[Shinhan PL] eSTRO vs CJ Entus (26.4.)

CJ and eSTRO are closing the doors of this match with a large: NO PROTOSS ALLOWED written on the door. The only progamer paid to play Protoss, Tester, is playing Random on Hunters, likely to give his team in 2/3 of the cases a favorable matchup, as it is commonly agreed that 2 Z > All in 2on2 and PZ > TZ on Hunters.

Both teams are stuck in the no-man's land of the table, eSTRO, after two promising wins, was sent home 3-0 by MBC and 3-1 by KTF, although these are the teams hogging the top spots of the table at this time. CJ has had a mixed start in the season as well, going into the ace match two times, with Much taking out Hero against WeMade and Berserker losing to Midas against SKT1.

Neverminding that, it is fascinating to see who CJ has pulled out of their magic 1on1 player hat. While they already had the deepest lineup of all pro teams in the previous season, the signing of GGplay has made it even harder to predict who they send.

Mingu vs. GGplay
CJ seems to be relying heavily onto a reinvigorated GGplay who just cruised through his OSL group with relative ease, taking down Casy and BackHo in progress. His opponent is TL's new darling, the TL-Attack star Mingu! Of all matchups, ZvZ is his best stats-wise, but most of these games were played more than one year ago, his comeback since September has just resulted in a pure loss streak. However, GGplay is traditionally thought to be especially strong at hive tech level which is rarely ever reached in ZvZ.

Mingu > GGplay for the upset

hyvaa vs. sKyHigh
The data on hyvaa is scarce. He went 6-5 in minor league, losing to two terrans. sKyHigh on the other hand is an expected upcoming terran who was cutting through pre-qualifiers like a knife some time ago. The hype has subsided, but sKyHigh still has more of a reputation than hyvaa.

hyvaa < sKyHigh

eSTRO vs. CJ
The matchup will most likely favor eSTRO. However Darkelf and Kwanro are two individually very strong challengers. On hunters randomness can be decisive - the positions alone can decide the whole thing, and now we even have a player going random. As much as it can be predicted, I would hand it to eSTRO.

eSTRO > CJ

Sea.Really vs. Memory
Memory appears to like the MSL, as he went into the Quarters at GOM3 and is qualified for Arena again. However, there is one matchup which sports abysmal stats for him: TvT. Sea.Really is getting a lot of exposure lately, coming with a broad breast from the minor league where he went 6-1. This is however a different league and I believe that Memory's TvT is not as bad as the stats make it look - losing to Mind on his MSL3 run and to Midas in early 2007 is nothing to be ashamed of.

Sea.Really < Memory

There are two reasons for predicting an ace-match. First: I want to see one. Second: CJ always goes to Ace. There, like always, they have millions of options. It seems fashionable to send out Terrans on Colosseum, therefore we might be expecting one of each team. The second idea for CJ would of course sending the "probe master" Much out. My prediction would be (feel free to laugh):

Goodfriend < Darkelf

Mingu < GGplay
hyvaa > sKyHigh
eSTRO < CJ Entus
Sea.Really < Memory

eSTRO 1 - 3 CJ Entus