Let's face it, who amongst us thought that SKT vs FOX would be as epic as SKT vs CJ? I sure as hell didn't, and I was proven right with this first day. In the first Bo7 between SK Telecom T1 and WeMade FOX, the games were for the most part lackluster and subpar. If it weren't for an amazing Set 2, I would have considered the night a waste. Regardless, let's look briefly at how the games went along.

Set 1: (s2 vs Sacsri on Roadrunner)
First off, Sacsri. Sacsri? Interesting snipe attempt by Fox, since they expected... not s2. Despite not having prepared for a Zerg, s2 took the match by force, though largely due to failure by Sacsri in preparing for the critical moment. It looked like Sacsri had the advantage early on. He had two hatcheries to s2's one, and the second one was at the natural, no less. However, due to s2 managing to kill Sacsri's in-base overlord he was able to pull off a mass ling bust that Sacsri did not prepare for in time. Sacsri was able to spore up and was perfectly safe for Mutalisks, but in sinking all that money into spore colonies he forgot that he didn't have ground-based defenses.

When s2 attacked, the lack of a sunken colony turned this:


Had Sacsri considered his ground-based weakness and prepared by even making an extra creep colony, he would have been able to hold it off. However, since he did not, with the flood of Zerglings s2 stormed through Sacsri's defenses and takes the opening set for SKT.

Set 2: (Bisu vs Pure on Polaris Rhapsody)
Do yourself a favor: if you have not already watched this game, go do so. I will not talk about the game details, but I will post all the relevant pictures here:



Set 3: (BaBy vs SoO on Match Point
This game was absolutely disgusting. Piss-poor control by BaBy into mass mutaling victory for SoO. In fact, this game is so bad I'm not even compulsively printscreening like I normally do. No picture for you!

BaBy better find his socks ;_;

Set 4: (Canata vs RorO on Fighting Spirit)
Another bad game. Bad control for both players throughout the entire match.

First RorO fails to do any damage with his Mutalisks thanks to Canata deciding to ring his natural CC with six turrets and does a good job with his marines in patrolling the main..


Then Canata was tricked and failed to attack with his mnm force while RorO was defenseless, and so RorO was able to get lurkers out.

Then mass amounts of lurkers burrowed outside of Canata's base turns into both sides kind of sitting around until defilers show their lobster-like heads. The somewhere in there Guardians start bombing stuff before getting taken out by wraiths, and I started raging and asking myself why Zergs never bothered to protect 5-6 Guardians from two wraiths.


I do give RorO props for one thing though: he had amazing clutch lurkers under swarms to keep Canata's expos denied, and that led to Canata's suicide starvation and RorO's win.


Otherwise though, the game just didn't have much 'epicness' in it to me. Hell, even one of the usually most exciting things to happen in ZvT (mutas killing plagued vessels) wasn't even conducive to making the game tense, since that was pretty much Canata's last chance to stay in the game.


However, comparing this game to RorO's fantastic play against Sea in the match against MBC, I was not impressed at all.

Set 5: (BeSt vs Midas on Grand Line SE)
What was this game, seriously. Midas, I know you can't keep up in a straight-up macro game, so I can understand you going Deep 6. However, BeSt goes triple Nexus, and you still lose? Terrible micro against Reavers usurped your surprise, and then BeSt macro rolled you.


Interestingly enough, BeSt said in his post-game interview that he thought Midas would try something like this, and thus he went Reaver-tech. Still, Midas was too sloppy and his micro, or lack thereof, lost him the game.





Set 1: (s2 vs Shine on Judgment Day)
s2 opens again for SKT and instead of sending Sacsri, FOX does the smart thing and sends Shine. Interestingly enough, Shine is third 3rd highest for ZvZ ELO. I seriously did not know that before this week. Anyway, being a ZvZ this game was nothing special. Both players went for in-base second hatches, and nothing happened until Mutalisks appear, and then it turned into a Muta/Scourge vs Muta/Scourge battle, and being better at managing his flying C-section shrimp, Shine wins.

Set 2: (BeSt vs Mind on Grand Line SE)
This game made me palmface. Facepalming is an incorrect term when you're hitting yourself in the head with your open hand, anyway. Regardless, BeSt the macro monster is let loose for SKT while FOX decides to send out Mind. And just like on Day 1, the Terran in the BeSt vT on Grand Line SE decides to go for... Deep 6. Even though BeSt doesn't go triple nexus this time, he still defends it handily due to Mind's terrible micro plus his decision to make a million bunkers.

In his first attack, Mind decides it's okay to let his marines get wailed on by probes, and thus BeSt is able to live.


After being beaten down by the small mechanical monstrosities, Mind decides he's going to play SCII.


With a Shuttle and Reaver supported by Dragoons, BeSt breaks free, and shortly after Mind taps out. BeSt celebrates by dancing and slapping with Bunkie.

Set 3: (Fantasy vs BaBy on Match Point)
In this game, Fantasy simply walked all over BaBy. As far as TvTs go, it was very well-played by Fantasy (especially using his wraiths to finish off BaBy's natural CC), but it was overwhelmingly one-sided for the most part. As somebody in the Live Report thread stated, "BaBy seemed to not be able to find his T key." Seriously, Taeyang. Your opponent decides to go 2Star and you don't make a single turret? Don't even get me started on your lack of tanks. No picture for you.

Set 4: (Hyuk vs Pure on New Heartbreak Ridge)
Hydralisks, hydralisks, and more hydralisks. Pure, FOX's clutch player, failed to notice and defend against Hyuk's hydralisk assault after losing all his zealots and an archon (no storm?) as they are out in the open. A few Templar snipes later, and Hyuk was all up in Pure's base killing his dudes.



Set 5: (n.Die_soO vs RorO on Roadrunner)
I hate your name, soO. I really do. Why can't it be easier to TLPDize? ...Anyway, SKT's most fail Zerg is up trying to seal the deal against WeMade's Ace for another 4-1 victory, and he almost succeeds. After some nice initial zergling micro, soO takes the advantage.


However, soO decides to throw away the huge zergling advantage has obtained by suiciding all those extra lings up a ramp right into RorO's defending mutalisks.


After this epic failure in decision-making, RorO goes out with his mutalisks, destroys soO's drones, and the game is won for FOX, keeping them in the match.

Set 6: (Bisu vs Midas on Fighting Spirit)
There will be rage from KwarK on this, so I'm not really going to talk about much. It was a nice macro match and had a lot of back-and-forths, but seriously Bisu: why the hell do you make so many archons? Bisu pretty much won every engagement early on but still lost because he couldn't take the expansions when he had to thanks to those big floating balls of gas. So good vZ, so fail vT. Use templar, please.


Set 7: (Bisu vs Pure on Polaris Rhapsody)
For the Ace match, Bisu is sent out again. In the LR thread, we wondered if he was fit to play: he was in tears after losing to Midas. Luckily, Pure decided he was going to do the same thing he did in Day 2: lose in the crucial moment due to something silly.


Please note, folks, that getting your templars stormed and not storming back in return is not a good way to win your PvPs.

And so, with a clean 2-0 victory, SKT would move on, one step closer to the gold.

This year Bisu's PvT record (excluding the offline prelims) is at 10-10 and the only good Terran he's beaten is Baby, five months ago. He's still capable of running over guys like Mind and Iris who aren't really relevant anymore but when Midas dominates him the way he did today then something is going wrong. The maps have changed and Bisu's style does not work anymore. What's even more disappointing is that when it became apparent yesterday that his style wasn't working he refused to adapt in any way. It doesn't matter what your planned strategy is, when you have spare gas PvT the correct options are arbiters, carriers or high templar. Never archons. That's just bad. Bisu's play was just bad. When a Protoss is so caught up in playing to his own particular style that he refuses to use psi storm then that's pretty much that.

Not much has changed since the last time STX has played T1. Cuteangel is still the best player on STX, the rest of STX is practically invisible, and Bisu's PvT is still pretty bad. Cuteangel is also the man who nearly allkilled T1 itself during STX Masters before. He has shown he has what it takes to crush T1 before now can he do it yet again? Speaking of Bisu and Cuteangel, Cuteangel once had some very interesting thoughts about Bisu himself.



This is all irrelevant, however, as it's not the fact that T1 is playing STX that is getting people excited. Instead, it is the return of everyone's favorite map, Outsider. This map provides so many epic games that even if we see Mong vs Bogus, no one will really care. Everyone will just be salivating and cherishing the fact that we get to see Outsider once more. It is a map where anything can happen and in a high-stakes match like the playoffs semifinals, we know these teams aren't going to hold back. So, just sit back and enjoy the ride because Outsider doesn't disappoint.

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Now, let's enjoy some friendly rivalry as we interview a T1 fan and one of the three STX fans on this site. They are Roffles and Carnivorous Sheep; they may be lowly workers but we don't discriminate here.

Hi! Let's start off easy today and thanks for doing this interview. STX hasn't been relevant in ages. Thoughts on this and what it will potentially mean for the playoffs semifinals?
Carnivorous Sheep: Irrelevant? R5 slump or not, STX's still rank 2, automatically making STX more relevant than CJ, Fox, MBC, and the other six teams who didn't make the playoffs. And honestly, if the MSL Ro16 games are any indication, Calm and Kal are still fully capable of playing winning games, and hero is still a solid player. SKT may have had it easy with demolishing noob teams like CJ and Fox, but STX is going to destroy them.

Roffles: Once a failure, always a failure. STX hasn't been relevant because their team is full of losers. Guys who can't step their game up when it counts. Because of their lack of experience due to past failures, they'll simply succumb to pressure when it counts. Their Ace, Kal, is pretty good at failing under pressure. Hwasin was good at it too. And you know how all the younguns look up to the old seasoned vet...

STX's ace this round is clearly Cuteangel. This is a problem for T1 because Bisu's PvT is bad and Cuteangel says that he is 6:2 vs Bisu and that beating Bisu is no big deal. In addition, Bisu and 2 Factory builds just don't get along. How can T1 overcome this massive weakness as it potentially means they are down 0-1 every game?

Carnivorous Sheep: They simply won't. SKT will keep fielding Bisu in the hopes that he'll proxy Gate or something, but Cuteangel will see through those pathetic attempts and continue to drink Bisu fanboys' tears in lieu of Pocari sweat. How does it feel knowing you support a player who has been irrelevant for years Roffles? Why do you insist on supporting terribad players?

Roffles: Cuteangel's a pile of garbage. You know your team is terrible when your best player is Cuteangel. That being said, I highly doubt STX's coach will be smart enough to successfully snipe Bisu. And even if he does get the desired matchup, Cuteangel's already used his playoff magic a few years ago vs. Jaedong. Fluke wins don't repeat themselves in playoffs.

Often regarded as the poor man's Jaedong vs Flash, Calm vs Fantasy games make everyone face palm while being very cringe inducing. For example, when they last met on Match Point, Calm showed that he was the real "Minesweeper Zerg" as he spent a whole game running into mines repeatedly. Plus, we could potentially even more of this "oh dear god why are they ever allowed to play each other" in MSL. Thoughts on what to expect from these two should they meet?

Carnivorous Sheep: Spending his entire time preparing for (and then losing) TvTs to Skyhigh has obviously traumatized fantasy. He'll pull out a build similar to the one he used against Hydra, and then die just as badly as he did then. But he can always pad his vZ stats by having Hyuk throw games, so all is well for fantasy as he goes down in an inglorious blaze.

Roffles: Calm's play as of late has been reeking of smelly cheese. His wins as of late have all been either from ZvZ or from doing stupid shit like hydra busting in ZvP. Skilless noob has no confidence in his play. But back on topic, Fantasy's shown that he can adeptly handle skilless noobs (see Effort) who try to win in the early game because they have no confidence in their late game skills. Should they meet, Fantasy would 100% wreck Calm cause he sucks. Plus, if Clam shows up, then lol.

The real hero for T1 these playoffs has been Best. Without him, they probably wouldn't even have made it past CJ, let alone Wemade. How can STX hope to overcome this macro machine?

Carnivorous Sheep: Best may be sort of good at spamming units and then 1a2a3aing, but his PvP and PvZ remains a tragedy. If he meets either Calm who'll mindgame him with some epic all-in build (assuring more delicious fanboy rage), hero who'll A-move him to death like he did Bisu, or Shuttle PvP monster who has even better macro, Best will just shed a silent tear before descending into a downward spiral of drugs and alcohol in an attempt to hide his shame.

Roffles: Plain and simple, put a zerg up against him that's somewhat competent and he'll most likely lose. Plus, I don't get why players insist on playing macro games with this guy. Everytime they do, they just get painfully wrecked. Mind and Midas had the right idea, but Best is just too good for stupid antics like that in TvP.

With the removal of Hwasin, STX's Terran depth plumeted drastically. This means that STX can't exploit T1 Zerg's lolbad ZvT. Can we expect to see Last, Bogus, and Notice step it up for the playoffs or will Shuttle be forced to pick up the slack?

Carnivorous Sheep: First and foremost, we have Terran bonjwa Cuteangel to lead the Terran line. That said, Bogus is probably our best bet, and he can just turtle a SKT zerg until he goes insane.

Roffles: STX has a terran line? Never heard of em, and with good reason too. They're just your typical trash no namers who get sent out as fodder because they have no other competent players.



Despite the fact that this will be like watching two cripples fight, there is a reason to still watch this. The return of everyone's favorite map, Outsider, is sure to lead to some amazing and exciting games. How much have you guys missed this map?

Carnivorous Sheep: Outsider is FTW.

And STX is like crippled cause of an injury (attained honorably in battle obviously, no shame), which can heal. SKT is like mentally crippled, something that will never leave them. It's one of those "I may be drunk, but in the morning I'll be sober, but you'll still be ugly" kind of things.

Roffles: Only crippled team I see is STX. Ever since Hwasin left, they've been in shambles. SKT on the other hand doesn't have scumbags, cause their players know better. Oh, Outsider's a fun map, pretty decent zerg map that leads to innovative play. Since STX doesn't have any good terrans, I expect an SKT zerg to play and win against STX's shitty protoss/zerg line.

Now for some words for each other, anything that you two want to say? Perhaps a bet of some sort should your favorite team lose? I hear everyone misses VWolf and no one would mind seeing him post again.

Carnivorous Sheep: VWolf is eaten, ok?

That said, just randomly ban some SKT fans imo. There's so many of them and they all say the same things, I doubt they'll be missed. Banning fake SKT fans who sport Oz icons also works, not like we need them.

Roffles: Ever since the start of Round 5, STX has been complete shit. Hell, they even stooped down to bribing other teams to win for them cause they're too terrible to win their own games. That's how fucking bad they are. I'll gladly make a bet, but I'm afraid CSheep's too scared to accept cause he knows his team sucks. The guy drives the largest Dodge Ram I've ever seen.

On a more personal note, I know that you two have been planning to do a bo9 grudgematch. Current status on that? Also, how is that dancing going, Roffles?

Carnivorous Sheep: It will happen the moment Roffles dances. Give the people what they want Roffles! Stop dodging lil' SCV!

Roffles: Thanks to Shuttle failing (pretty normal really), CSheep has no choice but to grudgematch vs me. Ima have to give him a handicap or two to make it close really. The guy's like bronze level at SC2, which is equivalent to keyboard rank in BW. However, that'll have to wait until after I dance, which I have planned for the next couple of weeks. I've set plans for it to come out on post 9999.

Thanks for your time~ Any last words to say before ending this interview?

Carnivorous Sheep: SKT bad, KT bad, STX Proleague Champs.

Roffles: To all you delusional STX fans out there, why the hell do you even root for this shitty team? Your team has no terrans, no competent zergs, and a protoss who fails when he succumbs to pressure. Why do you even bother rooting for these losers? Do you like being heartbroken? Do you like witnessing failure? I'd jump ship if I were you, cause SKT's gonna pummel STX into oblivion, two nights in a row.