EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SilverskY/EVERSL2.jpg)
Banner thanks to Silversky - hope the exams went well~!
All right, finally the OSL is underway. Last week the first three groups of the EVER OSL Ro36 were played, and they all had some more or less surprising results. Also, we got our first look on the new OSL maps. In general, it seems like they're trying to eliminate Zerg dominance with them, since on first look they seem quite disadvantageous for Zerg. If you want to know more about the new maps used in the OSL, you can find some more information here and download them here.
First, though, a word about the format. In the OSL Ro36, two players who advanced from the prelims will play against each other, after which the winner of the two is going to play against a seeded player from the last OSL's Ro16. There are a total of 12 seeded players and 24 players who advanced from the prelims. This means that the seeded player will have a significant advantage most of the time, since they have to play half the amount of games. Let's see if the seeds managed to use these advantages to their advantage.
Ro36 map order:
1. Eye of the Storm
2. El Niño
3. Heartbreak Ridge
Recommended games have a * in front of them.
Group A - Recap
Pusan > 
fOrGG+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Pusan > fOrGG+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Pusan < Canata+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Pusan > Canata+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Pusan > Canata+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Pusan advances to the OSL Ro16!In the first group, we're immediately treated to a minor, pleasant surprise. Pusan might have been the favorite against a megaslumping ForGG, whose TvP has been lackluster ever since he got destroyed by Stork a year ago, but he definitely shouldn't have been that against Canata. It seems like Pusan really likes the Fall, because just like last year around this time, he is, after a year-long silence, playing great Starcraft once again.
I personally have always disliked Canata and think that he's really overrated most of the time. He's such a cookie cutter Terran who seems to just copy others that I've never found anything exciting about his play. That's why I'm pleased that Pusan will get through instead, even though he most likely won't get all that far in the OSL. ForGG's slump, though, I'm a bit more saddened about. I don't really know what it is that keeps him from playing as well as he should be able to play. He can play so well when he's on his game, but he always seems to find ways to lose. Oh well, this is still a group I'm quite pleased with.
Group B - Recap
Shine > Really+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Shine < Really+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Shine > Really+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
*
Shine > Bisu+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Shine < Bisu+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
*
Shine > Bisu+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Shine advances into the OSL Ro16!Now, This group was a surprise! At least to the great majority of the people. Shine beating Really wasn't really a surprise; Really's macro style is really boring and predictable, and even though Shine played quite bad in the second game, it still wasn't that difficult for him to beat Really. Shine beating Bisu, though, is most likely going to be the biggest upset in the entire Ro36 of this OSL. Now, we all know that Bisu and the OSL badge have some bad blood between each other, but no one really expected him to lose here. To Shine of all people, who I personally have kind of written off as a mediocre, albeit aggressive Zerg player.
Well, we all know that Bisu has a tendency to lose to bad players, especially Zerg players, in the early stages of the leagues. Who could forget his humiliating defeat to the newcomer Zerg player, Hero a couple OSLs ago? How about his last MSL group, which he picked personally, only to be eliminated by go.go and Zero? How about his MSL group a few MSLs ago, where he got eliminated by Zero and Savior? Bisu really seems to look down on his opponents and not prepare appropriately. I'd blame it on cockiness and arrogance, although some people will greatly flame me for saying this, but I don't think Bisu takes his lower-skilled opponents seriously enough.
However, if you watch the games, you can see that it wasn't only Bisu throwing the games away. On the contrary. Shine's play was really beautiful and highly aggressive, and I truly believe he played better in that series. Early on he forced Bisu to build more defenses than was necessary while powering his economy, and in games one and three he got a very minor advantage because of that. In game two, which he lost, the loss of his first drone really set him back, causing his timings to be so late that he lost two overlords to the corsair, and eventually was a cause for his loss. In any case, his aggressive Hydralisk play and his Mutalisk sniping was a pleasure to watch, and after watching the series and especially game three, I believe that Shine deserved the victory. Bisu really didn't do anything special in any games, he seemed to play just standard "noob-crushing" builds which really didn't work out so well for him.
This group's results also brought alive the momentarily buried "ZvP is imbalanced" thread, which, sadly, immediately spoiled the results of this group for anyone observant. Ah, got to love it when countless fanboys are crying... Well seriously though, the match-up seems more and more imbalanced day after day, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we're all waiting for the next Protoss revolutionist to fix things up, or we'll have to experience a complete switch in map concepts in order to make Protoss more competitive against Zerg. I don't think that the chance of a Protoss winning the OSL is too high this year, either.
Group C - Recap
Calm > Reality+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Calm > Reality+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
*
Calm < BackHo+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Calm > BackHo+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Calm > BackHo+ Show Spoiler [VOD] +
Calm advances to the OSL Ro16!After the insanity of the last group, it's nice to be back on more familiar turf; BackHo failing again. Well, I actually wouldn't say so. BackHo played really nice in especially the first game, where he basically went mass Dark Templar and Zealots into mass High Templar and Zealots and won the game. Always trust on BackHo to make unusual strategies... well fail most of the time, but they evidently can work, too!
Still, that was the only surprising thing about this group; BackHo giving a slight challenge to Calm. Reality was completely outclassed by Calm, even if certain sources not to be named insisted that I had totally underestimated him in my last write-up. I watched out for him and he dropped and burned.These two games are actually quite good to watch if you want to learn how to beat mech as Zerg.
A thing worth mentioning is that the last MSL champion, Calm, advances into the OSL Ro16 as a Royal Road candidate. It's quite surprising that he's never made it into the OSL before. Well, here we have a real chance of finally seeing another Royal Roader, the last one was such a long time ago.
So now we have past us one week and three groups, with some highly entertaining games and some huge surprises mixed in. Can the following(this) week possibly be as good? Let's see and find out!
Group D - Preview
JangBi vs. BarracksKwanro vs. Game 1 WinnerWell, on first glance this seems like an easy win for JangBi. But he really has been in quite a bit of a slump as of late, especially in PvZ, and hence Kwan... no wait a second, Kwanro actually seems like he's completely stopped playing after getting stomped by Calm in the MSL finals. He's 2-8 in his last 10 games and his play really has been quite lackluster. Also, he most likely still needs some to get used to the way of the Woongjin Stars, where he recently got transferred to. Taking these things into account, I'd give the advantage to JangBi.
However, even though it's almost instinctive with these kinds of players in a group, we really shouldn't completely count Barracks out. With both of the bigger names playing quite poorly as of late, there is a real chance of him pulling off an upset on a good day. It definitely isn't likely, but I wouldn't think of it as a complete shocker(cough cough group B cough). JangBi's PvT might still be too high of a mountain for him to climb, though, even if JangBi is not at his absolute best.
Group E - Preview
sKyHigh vs ggaemoStork vs Game 1 WinnerThe Khan Protoss Duo are pretty much the only real chance left for Protoss to make the finals of the OSL, and just so it happens, that they both are going to be playing on the same day! Things look a bit tougher for Stork than JangBi, though. sKyHigh is a really good terran, and even though he's not the best against Protoss, he still should be able to give Stork a run for his money. As for the third player of the group, well... ggaemo has for a while been consistently appearing in the Oz's lineups. I guess he's kind of gotten BackHo's job of sucking since BackHo got decent.
I have always hated ggaemo, because his name is terrible and his play is even worse than his name. I really think there's something wrong in the Starcraft universe and a balancing patch would be necessary if ggaemo made it out of this group instead of Skyhigh or Stork. He hasn't ever won against a Terran in a televised game before, and that hopefully won't change here. Stork vs sKyHigh should definitely be a really entertaining match, though, and I'm really looking forward to it. Even though I love sKyHigh and CJ, I'm going to have to predict Stork to get through here, but sKyHigh beating him wouldn't really be a surprise.
Group F - Preview
Light vs Moviehero vs Game 1 WinnerWell this, to me, is definitely the least exciting group of the week. Some might say that Light is a good player, but I think he's kind of a turtley boring Terran. I guess he gets results, though. Movie is CJ's best Protoss player, but he's really inconsistent. He can either destroy this group like nothing, or lose miserably 0-2. No one knows. Hero is known as the 500 apm Zerg and is the fastest progamer around, but he really hasn't done much other than fluked into the semis a while ago, where he got completely ran over by Jaedong.
Of these players, even if there are already a gazillion Zergs in the OSL, I'd most rather see Hero go through. His ZvP especially has always been very exciting for me to watch. However, there really aren't too many Protoss players in the OSL, so I'm not sure what use that would be to him. I predict that if Movie beats Light, Hero goes through. I just think Hero's ZvP is good enough to defeat Movie. However, if Light beats Movie, I think that Light would be the slight favorite to go through, just because of Hero's mediocre ZvT and the maps seem quite ugly for the match-up, although it's hard to say yet. As for Movie vs Light, well... I'm hoping that Movie wins because I'm not really a fan of Light's play, but I guess it's pretty much a toss-up, maybe Light being a slight favorite.
So there you have it! Hopefully we'll see a lot of exciting games this week! Remember, the Groups D and E are played out on Wenesday at 17:00 KST while Group F is played out on Friday at 18:30 KST. The OGN stream seems to be semi-alive so mms://liveongame.gscdn.com/L3 should work as a usable stream during the games. Of course, there will probably be people livestreaming this as well - but it never hurts to have too many streams
Shikyo
