According to TLPD, 900 games have been listed as played on Fighting Spirit and over 200 of them have been from ZvP alone. Considering that, it's rather hard to see anything new as most games tend to follow similar scripts/formulas at this point. However, Hong Jin Ho is no ordinary person. Hong Jin Ho isn't just some sheep who follows the rest of flock, he is one who leads his own flock. This makes fan salviate at the mere thought of Yellow playing just to see what he has planned. Kong's latest victim? The tigertoss himself, Horang2.

The game begins with Yellow spawning at bottom left in yellow while Horang2 spawns at bottom right in orange. Everything starts off normal as Yellow opens with overpool while Horang2 FE's. Due to Yellow's drone whoring in beginning, Horang2 was able to get away with only one cannon and nexus before having to make his gateway. Meanwhile, Yellow places his third hatchery at 9'oclock which usually signifies an aggressive midgame. Yellow finally manages to kill Horang2's second scouting probe when zergling speed finishes as the first one manages to make it back to base before dying.



Before this season, the thought of someone like Horang2 going for a build like sair/reaver would have been rather laughable but lately it feels like Horang2 has really worked on his mechanics and multitask. He then goes on to prove that this game with some impressive sair micro. Horang2's sairs managed to kill 2 overlords before meeting every corsair pilot's worst nighmare, scourge. Horang2 shows some sublime sair micro in dodging Yellow's scourge who narrowly just missed killing Horang2's sairs multiple times. In fact, with a build like sair/reaver, losing the first 1-2 sairs can often lead into an early defeat. Meanwhile, dohsair pilots want to change unions as they finally realize sairs can dodge scourge and shuttles/sairs aren't meant to blow up.



Horang2 knows that Yellow is going Neo-Sauron but he doesn't know if Yellow is following up with 5hatch mutalisks, lurkers, or hydras so he sends a lone sair to Yellow's third which confirms that it is indeed hydralisks. Horang2 then adds an obs in case of lurkers and burrowed units, 3gateways and a citadel as he clearly wants to attack with sair/speedzealot/reaver. Horang2's reaver manages to get off a shot at Yellow's nat but drones run away early enough and the scarab shot ends up being a dud. Hydralisks then manage to ambush the shuttle and sairs and nearly manage to take out the shuttle with a reaver inside.



Yellow tech switches to muta but hides them so Horang2 doesn't see what he is planning. Hydralisks and a massive amount of overlords start to head towards Horang2's nat which gets spotted by an obs but the obs then quickly dies. Horang2 then gets paranoid about drops as he positions sairs to stop any overlords from dropping his main as well as sending a group of lots into his main to help defend against any drops. Realizing that he can't take a third anytime soon, Horang2 also starts adding more gateways.

Overlords are then seeing flying into Horang2's main but of course it wouldn't be Yellow if it was any amount other than 2. Horang2 falls hook, line, and sinker for the fake drop as mutas run into nat and destroy the reavers as well as the shuttle. Horang2 has some hts also positioned in nat but either they lacked energy or storm hadn't finished because hydras made quick work of them. This leaves Horang2 with just speedzealot/sairs vs Yellow's hydralisks. In desperation, Horang2 then decides to harass overlords with his sairs and most of his sairs die. Horang2 finally ggs after losing his forge and probes start dying. He was visibly disappointed after the game as he sighs while pondering what wrong. However, Yellow and the rest of Ace were ecstatic due to being on a 2 game winning streak.



Yellow showed the cunning of a grizzled old veteran this game but also that he can still keep up with modern progamers despite being on Ace. His midgame and fake drop were perfectly planned but he also had the mechanics/macro/multitask to actually finish the deal. Yellow also managed to do something that even the current OSL winner failed at, beating Horang2 in zvp. There is a storm coming and it's here to stay.

It's A Bird?... It's A Plane?... NO! It's Air Force ACE!

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• Fly High
  I'm sure not many people expected this. Even though MBC and hite haven't been on fire recently, it's still something big for a team that usually ends 2-9 or so each round. Air Force ACE managed to beat both of them 3-1. is no longer at the bottom in terms of FPL points: [tlpd#teams#8]eSTRO, STX and hite are below them, not bad for a team that was -1$.
  
  
• Sky High!
  Flash is setting a trend. Losing ace matches versus Terrans. This week it was two of them, against Really and sKyHigh (two of the best TvTers in the scene). Flash owners must be pissed. Costing 11 points, Flash has lost all of his 5 ace matches this round, all of them versus Terran, making him 5-5 overall. sKyHigh goes +9 this week, second biggest winner of the week along with Killer, just behind Jaedong.
  
  
• A wild MoustacheZerg appears
  Both the teams that beat KT suffered a loss from Hwaseung OZ. Jaedong already hit his 6 win streak on Proleague this round. He's the player with the most points in FPL and he didn't even need to ace this week. All of a sudden Jaedong has a team, or should I say HiyA and Killer just decided to stop sucking? Killer is +9 this week and HiyA is +8. Seems like they really want that playoffs spot.
  
  
• "I knew it was over when..."
  "FrOzean was the only one to win from my team". Seriously STX? I used to really like you, but with this results it's going to be hard picking players from your team again, unless they are ridiculously cheap. Kal and Calm accumulate one more loss each. And to be honest, it could have been a 3-0 win by Samsung instead of 3-1, but January decided to field Juni. The playoffs are around the corner, I hope they have something planned.
  
  In other news, Woongjin really likes their zergs. Out of the 9 sets they played this week, 7 of those of those were played by zerg players. That didn't help thought since they went 2-3 and 1-3. They really need a strong ace player (no, Kwanro does not count). Trading for Woongjin zergs? Maybe.
  
  WeMade's terrans are still owning it up. This week it was Mind and BaBy winning, too bad the decided to send some zergs and they lost 2-3 to T1. Should have sent Major, NaDa and Midas imo!

As we draw clear to the playoffs, it's important to know what teams really care about winning and which ones are just giving rookies playtime. Hot_Bid made a nice thread where you can see what teams have a shot to grab the last spot. Those teams will probably put everything they have to grab the wins they need, so trade smart, keep RorO out of your anti team and you will be fine!

And so, we draw closer to the end. The sun is setting over the horizon, and this season of Proleague comes slowly to a finish. But Proleague dies not slowly, it does not sputter and stop like a car with no gas left in the tank. Instead, Proleague goes out like a meteor, speeding up until the finale, accelerating, waiting for the final explosion, the last impact.

Time is ticking; ti-time is ticking, ticking. Time is ticking; time is ticking away.

With the biggest question now being playoff concern, let us only look at matches that could be potentially affecting for how the last three weeks of rankings shape up.

| 1. KT       | 34-16 | +42 |
| 2. STX      | 31-19 | +13 |
| 3. MBC      | 30-20 | +18 |
| 4. SKT      | 28-22 | +13 |
| 5. FOX      | 27-23 | +16 |
| 6. CJ       | 27-24 | +02 |
| 7. OZ       | 25-25 | -02 |
| 8. KHAN     | 25-25 | -11 |
| 9. Stars    | 25-26 | +12 |
| 10. eSTRO   | 22-29 | -07 |
| 11. Hite    | 21-29 | -15 |
| 12. ACE     | 08-43 | -65 |

Wow Stars, KHAN, OZ...
Still though, hitting playoffs for either of these teams is going to be tough. They're just hoping CJ will lose now. KT, STX, and MBC are pretty much locked in, so let's look at the remaining teams.

+ Show Spoiler [SKT's remaining matches] ++ Show Spoiler [FOX's remaining matches] ++ Show Spoiler [CJ's remaining matches] ++ Show Spoiler [OZ's remaining matches] ++ Show Spoiler [KHAN's remaining matches] ++ Show Spoiler [Stars' remaining matches] +
SKT I think is pretty much locked into a playoff spot as well, though just to be thorough I'll go through all this. They should definitely win against Hite, against MBC I'd put them as the favourite, 50-50 against KT (even though Flash is currently not doing well), should beat OZ, and STX is not doing well but is still dangerous. SKT probably going to go 4-1 in their last five matches to finish at 32-23, though I'd say 31-24 is more reasonable, given the volatile nature of PL.

FOX has mostly easier teams remaining; they should beat CJ and ACE, and against CJ and Stars I think FOX has the depth and tools (terran imba!) to beat those two teams, though it's kind of iffy. I'd still put them as the favourite over KHAN, so FOX going 4-1 seems very possible to me, putting them right behind SKT with an aggregate record of 31-24.

So I think the top 5 should be safe for now, and like any good race, it all comes down to the last qualifying spot, and that really falls down to CJ, OZ, KHAN, and Stars.

CJ's still got some tough matches left. STX, even though they're sucking, can put up a good fight so it'd be hard to call. I believe FOX > CJ at the moment, since though CJ has a lot of very good vT snipers, FOX can pull out Shine or RorO to mess things up a bit, and we really don't like sKyHigh's TvZ. MBC is like STX, it's very hard to call, and ACE, well even though we want them to win CJ should win that. So I'd say CJ probabilistically should go 2-2 in their last four matches, putting them at 29-26, but it could very easily be 3-1 or 1-3.

OZ should be able to beat ACE (though they have a laughable 2-game losing streak v ACE for OZ) and Hite (Jaedong >>>> Hite), probably not SKT (though they did R4... then again SKT didn't do well R4), and MBC really seems like a toss-up to me, since it's all about how well Sea and Light can avoid Jaedong. KHAN is the big toss-up game, since right now OZ and KHAN are tied up--OZ is just ahead in the game differential by 9 points, and I think OZ can beat KHAN still, as long as HiyA tries to play standard. Probably going to go 3-2, but it's really damn hard to predict how OZ does. 3-2 or 1-3 is @_@ even though OZ went 3-1 both times this week. Also whoa I just realized Killer won both deciding matches for OZ, both against Terran as well. Still though, Killer sucks. So probably a 28-27 final result for OZ, but could be 29-26 or who knows. I still don't see them beating out CJ for the playoff spot, unless CJ starts losing more... though that's a definitely possibility.

Man, v MBC matches are always hard to call. KHAN should beat Hite... and that's the only 'guarantee' I can see. Despite Flash's recent failings, I still don't think they can beat KT, OZ is a toss-up, don't think they will beat FOX, and MBC is iffy, but I'd say KHAN is favoured right now. I see KHAN most likely going 2-3 more likely than 3-2 with a final record of 27-28 or 28-27, still not good enough to top a 2-2 CJ.

And Stars I think is out of the race at this point. They've got KT, FOX, and STX left, teams that are all very dangerous and very capable of beating Stars. They should beat eSTRO, yeah, but at best I see Stars going 2-2, putting them at 27-28.

So at this point, I think the top three spots are decided (at least amongst the three teams occupying them). KT, even after this string of Ace losses for Flash, definitely should remain in first, and STX may be overtaken by MBC for second, though I see anybody but those two teams occupying 2 and 3. SKT and FOX fight over 4 and 5, with SKT more likely to take the 4 spot.

6 is really interesting. CJ is fully capable of defending 6 since it has an extra two wins over its close competition at this point, but it still has some tough matches coming up. Whichever team wins between OZ and KHAN should pull ahead for spot 7, and after an 0-2 week, Stars is most likely out of playoffs.

Here's to Hite, eSTRO, and Air Force ACE (Go ACE! 2-0 this week!) shaking things up a bit from the bottom of the ladder, though.

STX SouL, if you wish to keep your rank 2... stop sucking. Of course, CJ Entus needs this match more than you to hold its playoffs spot. I'm not sure what to say about this match. STX has been playing like absolute... crap... this round, and as IntoTheWow so astutely points out, they're going to be damn cheap next round before anybody picks them up again--though you never know with Proleague. Perhaps for these last three weeks, STX will rise back to their R4 heights and start owning everybody in 2010! It's not unfeasible, and CJ still has to be careful about the matchups, since STX is also a pretty deep team. Though seriously, don't send FrOzen. Stats-wise, Kal and Calm can still wreak major havoc when they want to, and Shuttle is ready to go around and knock off some opposing Protosses. CJ needs to be extra careful this match, and I don't want to see them sending sKyHigh...


Samsung, like OZ, needs every single one of its matches to qualify. Normally, against an opponent ranked #3 you might expect there to be some resistance in this match. However, KHAN should be feeling quite good about this match right now. It has two very strong Protoss, Stork and JangBi, and Brave is, well, decent. With that part alone, Light and his weak TvP will be nullified, and a good showing against Sea can take the match early for KHAN's favour. If it gets to Ace though, I think MBC will be sending out the Golden Boy, and Stork vs Sea would make for a good match... or Sea vs great again? They seem to be playing a lot. Either way, I think KHAN should be able to win this match.


Woongjin's poor showing has probably knocked it out of playoff contention by now, but we all know weirder things have happened before. Even so, they're going to have a hell of a time defeating even Flash and fOrGG if they want to continue fielding just Zergs. A suggestion? Field SoulKey, field Kwanro, and field ZerO, but for god's sake...

PLAY FREE.

That is all, Stars.

Hwaseung OZ vs

Air Force ACE

Oh man seriously torn... On one hand, I really like ACE and I want them to reach their goal of 10 wins this season, and it'd be hilarious if Ace had a 3-game win streak over Hwaseung. However, I want to see Jaedong in post-season! And HiyA too, now that he's turned into such a baller. Oh well OZ better win this. Just don't send Killer for Ace.


Good luck, CJ. You have a lot of good vT players, though the trick is to figure out when to use them. FOX can dice you up with anti-fanboy favourites Shine and RorO, so be careful where you send out sKyHigh... All in all I don't think CJ can win this, and I'm expecting a 3-1 for FOX or 3-2 in Ace, though BaBy vs EffOrt or BaBy vs sKyHigh (the latter so much riskier...) would be baller. OZ and KHAN watch this match with bated breath.

MBC vs SKT doesn't really affect playoff contention, since both teams are pretty much guaranteed a spot, and KHAN should be able to beat Hite, though I expect Hite to put up the fight of its life.

And that's it, ladies and gentlemen. With the threat of SCII looming over our heads, who knows if there will be another season of Proleague? I sure do hope so, but if not... let's go out with a bang. I wanted to be able to finish this season out, but this is my last week of writing for PL. But kids, fasten your seatbelts. This ride ain't over yet.