The first day of the week saw one of the weirdest ace matches of the proleague year, with the MBC-KT game going to a fifth set and being a game between Stats and IrOn. Certainly not what was expected for a rematch of the Winner's League finals just some weeks ago. Earlier in that same match Saint managed to pull a "reverse sAviOr" where he spent quite some with the adrenal upgrade on his zerglings, but no speed. Meanwhile Jaedong beat Leta in a one sided ace match of his own (looking like the Oz of a year ago, Jaedong won twice with Lomo doing his part).

CJ won their first match against eSTRO 3-1, pleasing fans by playing Iris. Stars swept ACE in somewhat unremarkable fashion, in a series where they only sent out zerg players (fun fact, Stars only won games with zergs this week).

Mid week, KHAN ousted SKT 3-1. The highlight of the match was Bisu completing his fall from grace, and losing to Juni in a game where it looked like he had the advantage at several points. SKT also chose to play 2 zergs (s2 and SoO), potentially a fatal mistake as they both lost. STX edged out WeMade in a game that went the full set, where NaDa was a bit of a surprise ace pick (unlike last week, he lost).

MBC once again lost in ace against Hite, this time s ending out Jaehon to play (surprise, surprise) Leta. They went 0-2 this week and it seems that both would have been winnable situations with slightly better final game choices. KT swept OZ in an interesting series that began with a rematch of the 2008 Arena MSL, and just like that series, fOrGG wiped the floor with Jaedong. Violet showed his stuff too, in a game we will take a closer look at in a bit.

To wrap up the week, CJ beat stars 3-1 in a series that was all mirrors to earn their 2-0 finish. ACE came close to taking down eSTRO, with Anytime beating Action and Reach beating Really (in two awesome games for fans of the old guard) but were unable to close and eSTRO took the set in the next 3 games.

All in all, CJ is the only team that had any major changes in the standings, and they are now well within playoff contention (assuming a similar playoff structure as last year). STX is poised to run away and take second, but MBC is unlikely to give it up without a fight over the coming weeks.

HiyA started at 5 o'clock on Fighting Spirit as the Orange Terran while Violet warped in at 7 o'clock as the Teal Protoss. HiyA has to win this match to avoid a 3-0 sweep for his team, and after making it to the Ro8 of MSL, he should feel confident playing against Violet. Both players open with standard builds: HiyA takes his natural while researching siege mode, and Violet makes cybernetics core after his first gateway. However, Violet quickly techs to robotics facility and puts up a support bay before observatory.

The first reaver doesn't do much damage; it only kills a couple of scvs. However, Violet is able to force HiyA to build a lot of turrets and stall HiyA while taking 2 expansions at once. Violet adds 2 more gateway and techs to templars. HiyA, in response, also takes a quick 3rd expansion as soon as the reaver is driven out. Violet makes a few mistakes and carelessly loses a few goons to mines. Violet quickly recovers by killing three stray tanks using his reaver.

Both players then go into macro mode. Violet takes 11 o'clock expansion and defends against any vulture harassment, but HiyA's 3rd expansion is delayed for a few minutes. Violet starts getting arbiters and a lot of gateways. HiyA tries to harass Violet's 11 o'clock expansion with one tank and two vultures in a dropship, but Violet easily defends with his army. HiyA prepares against recall and tries the same harassment again, this time doing some damage and delaying mining for a while.



Violet again expands to the 11 o'clock natural expansion and the 1 o'clock main expansion and adds even more gateways. Violet is now very far ahead in economy, but HiyA has built up a very large, well upgraded army. HiyA moves towards 11 o'clock, and Violet engages. HiyA barely loses any tanks while killing half of Violet's army. HiyA expands to the 3 o'clock expansion and advances towards Violet's natural.



HiyA's army overwhelms Violet's army, but few very good storms kill a lot of vultures and tanks. Violet loses his natural, but brilliantly uses his shuttle to drop zealots and lower HiyA's tank count without fighting directly. Violet fakes an attack to 3 o'clock, making HiyA's army split, and engages the main army. However, a good EMP and army formation drives back Violet's army once again, and HiyA moves towards Violet's main.



HiyA changes direction and moves towards the 11 o'clock expansion, and drives Violet back with the help of well placed emps. Violet has gateways spread out all over the map, and is able to quickly replenish his army. When his 11 o'clock natural expansion is about to fall, Violet flanks HiyA's army and destroys it, with the help of some amazing storms. However, HiyA has already built up a large army and once again drives Violet's army back. HiyA kills the 12 o'clock expansion, and moves back to kill the 11 o'clock expansion.




HiyA at the same time uses 2 dropships to kill Violet's 1 o'clock expansion. Violet is now on his last string; if he loses 11 o'clock, he will be out of resources. Violet uses a small portion of his army to cut off any reinforcements, but he loses 11 o'clock natural expansion. Violet is down to 2 mining expansions, one almost mined out. Violet attempts to attack HiyA's 3 o'clock, and when it doesn't work, recalls directly into 3 o'clock. Even that is unable to kill the command center, and Violet loses a portion of his army.



Violet, as a last ditch attempt, recalls HiyA's main with dragoons and high templars. When HiyA's army comes back to defend, very well placed storms take out a lot of HiyA's army. While HiyA tries to kill the recalled units, Violet takes 1 o'clock expansion and his natural expansion again. HiyA moves towards 1 o'clock, and just when his units are about to move up the ramp, Violet tries to flank HiyA's main army in front of the 11 o'clock natural expansion. HiyA, seeing this, moves back his army at 1 o'clock to 11 o'clock, and Violet simply backs off and gains more time to rebuild.



HiyA finally decides to go with the attack on 1 o'clock, and Violet gives it up to kill the army at the 11 o'clock. The map is now divided sharply down the center, with a player holding east and one holding west. HiyA, instead of taking the 1 o'clock expansions for himself, gets greedy and moves to Violet's half of the map. HiyA's army gets caught out of position, and driven back to 3 o'clock. However, once Violet chases HiyA's army into HiyA's half of the map, the reinforcements drive Violet's army back.



First person views show that both players are low in money, but Violet, with his 12 o'clock now running, has more income. HiyA uses two tanks to kill 12 o'clock, but Violet's 3 o'clock recall hurts HiyA even more. HiyA is now no longer mining, and with his remaining army, moves out for his final attack.



HiyA still has a large army with good composition, and kills 11 o'clock natural expansion. Now both players are no longer mining, and a final battle occurs at 12 o'clock. Although HiyA gets a very good EMP, Violet's storm changes the tide of the battle and Violet wins the battle and the game. HiyA, after a sigh, GG's.