EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SilverskY//Bacchus2010.jpg )
Banner by SilverskY
by KwarK, Milkis and Waxangel
This week's content
brought to you by Snorlax.
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/snorlaxsprite.png)
Results and Battle Reports
Best OSL Ever
Quarter-final Preview
brought to you by Snorlax.
Results and Battle Reports
Best OSL Ever
Quarter-final Preview
In what was certainly one of their worst Christmas's ever, Flash and Jaedong were eliminated from the Bacchus Starleague. At least Flash is Buddhist; Jaedong's face betrayed the anguish of someone who was not only eliminated from the OSL, but also did not receive the limited edition Optimus Prime transformer he wanted so badly (I'm looking at you mom).
It is a momentous occasion to have both of the Leessang eliminated from the OSL in the RO16, after nearly two years of having at least one of them in the final. To capture the significance and implications of this moment, we commissioned our very own Milkis to give us his finest work. But beware, it's a bit... how should I say it... pointed. Well, maybe this will give you a hint:
+ Show Spoiler [TL Building, Dec 26th, 2010] +
I handed back Milkis’ finished draft across the coffee table. We were sitting in the OSL team lounge, a cozy little room with a sofa (now occupied by a gently snoring Kwark), some assorted pieces of furniture, and few muted TVs fixed to Korean e-Sports.
“It’s good, I like it.” I said.
“So it’s good to go? You don’t think that little bit towards the end is too excessive or…?” Milkis trailed off.
“No, not at all. Some minor stylistic changes and it’s done.” I reassured.
As Milkis beamed back at me, I reached for the second document that lay on the table.
“Actually, there’s just one final item left on the checklist. If you could just—“
The door creaked open and flamewheel poked his head through the crack.
“Hey guys, what’s goin’ on down in the OSL offices?”
“FUCK OFF, SHITWHEEL!” hollered Milkis.
A mug shattered on the wall, a foot away from flamewheel’s head. I heard a frightened yelp, and then the sound of the MSL head fleeing down the hallway.
“Mmm… what’s that?” stirred KwarK.
“Nothing.” We replied in unison. Kwark shifted his body away from the lights and went back to snoozing.
“Sorry, what were you talking about?”
“Yeah, one more thing. If you could sign this release form…”
“What for? I’ve never had to sign anything before.”
“It’s standard stuff, really. It just states that we’re not responsible for any damage of property or bodily harm you may suffer due to the publication of this article, including but not limited to injury and/or death.”
“What!?”
“You know, crazy fanboy stuff. Brick through the window, stolen car, tar and feathering, that kind of thing. Like I said, standard stuff. Just sign it and we’re good to go.”
“That kind of stuff can happen?”
“I can’t tell you it can’t happen, but I can say it’s almost improbable.”
“What?”
“Just sign it.”
“I’m still not sure….”
“Look, it’s not like people know where you live, right?”
“No….”
“Then just sign it.”
I offered him a pen.
“It’s good, I like it.” I said.
“So it’s good to go? You don’t think that little bit towards the end is too excessive or…?” Milkis trailed off.
“No, not at all. Some minor stylistic changes and it’s done.” I reassured.
As Milkis beamed back at me, I reached for the second document that lay on the table.
“Actually, there’s just one final item left on the checklist. If you could just—“
The door creaked open and flamewheel poked his head through the crack.
“Hey guys, what’s goin’ on down in the OSL offices?”
“FUCK OFF, SHITWHEEL!” hollered Milkis.
A mug shattered on the wall, a foot away from flamewheel’s head. I heard a frightened yelp, and then the sound of the MSL head fleeing down the hallway.
“Mmm… what’s that?” stirred KwarK.
“Nothing.” We replied in unison. Kwark shifted his body away from the lights and went back to snoozing.
“Sorry, what were you talking about?”
“Yeah, one more thing. If you could sign this release form…”
“What for? I’ve never had to sign anything before.”
“It’s standard stuff, really. It just states that we’re not responsible for any damage of property or bodily harm you may suffer due to the publication of this article, including but not limited to injury and/or death.”
“What!?”
“You know, crazy fanboy stuff. Brick through the window, stolen car, tar and feathering, that kind of thing. Like I said, standard stuff. Just sign it and we’re good to go.”
“That kind of stuff can happen?”
“I can’t tell you it can’t happen, but I can say it’s almost improbable.”
“What?”
“Just sign it.”
“I’m still not sure….”
“Look, it’s not like people know where you live, right?”
“No….”
“Then just sign it.”
I offered him a pen.
Oh that, battle reports, and a quarter-final preview.
Round of 16, Week Three
Quick Results
+ Show Spoiler [Results and VODs] +
Group A:
Hyuk 3-0 ►Advances to Round of 8
Kal 2-1 ►Advances to Round of 8
Flash
Paralyze 0-3 Eliminated
[VOD]Flash < Aztec > Kal
[VOD]Paralyze < Gladiator > Hyuk
[VOD]Flash < Pathfinder > Paralyze
[VOD]Kal < Pathfinder > Hyuk
[VOD]Hyuk < Icarus > Flash
[VOD]Kal < Icarus > Paralyze
Group B:
Calm 2-1 ►Advances to Round of 8
HiyA 2-1 ►Advances to Round of 8
Jaedong 1-2 Eliminated
HoGiL 1-2 Eliminated
[VOD]Calm < Gladiator > HoGiL
[VOD]Jaedong < Pathfinder > HiyA
[VOD]HiyA < Icarus > HoGiL
[VOD]Jaedong < Icarus > Calm
[VOD]HiyA < Aztec > Calm
[VOD]HoGiL < Aztec > Jaedong
Group C:
Stork 2-1 (2-0) ►Advances to Round of 8
Mind 2-1 (1-1) ►Advances to Round of 8
Shine 2-1 (0-2) Eliminated
Sea 0-3 Eliminated
[VOD]Stork < Pathfinder > Mind
[VOD]Sea < Icarus > Shine
[VOD]Stork < Aztec > Sea
[VOD]Mind < Aztec > Shine
[VOD]Shine < Gladiator > Stork
[VOD]Mind < Gladiator > Sea
[VOD]Stork < Gladiator > Mind
[VOD]Stork < Aztec > Shine
[VOD]Mind < Pathfinder > Shine
Group D:
Modesty 2-1 ►Advances to Round of 8
Fantasy 2-1 ►Advances to Round of 8
Hydra 1-2 Eliminated
free 1-2 Eliminated
[VOD]Fantasy < Icarus > Modesty
[VOD]free < Aztec > Hydra
[VOD]Hydra < Gladiator > Modesty
[VOD]free < Gladiator > Fantasy
[VOD]Hydra < Pathfinder > Fantasy
[VOD]Modesty < Pathfinder > free
Hyuk 3-0 ►Advances to Round of 8Kal 2-1 ►Advances to Round of 8FlashParalyze[VOD]
Flash < Aztec > Kal[VOD]
Paralyze < Gladiator > Hyuk[VOD]
Flash < Pathfinder > Paralyze[VOD]
Kal < Pathfinder > Hyuk[VOD]
Hyuk < Icarus > Flash[VOD]
Kal < Icarus > ParalyzeGroup B:
Calm 2-1 ►Advances to Round of 8 HiyA 2-1 ►Advances to Round of 8JaedongHoGiL[VOD]
Calm < Gladiator > HoGiL[VOD]
Jaedong < Pathfinder > HiyA[VOD]
HiyA < Icarus > HoGiL[VOD]
Jaedong < Icarus > Calm[VOD]
HiyA < Aztec > Calm[VOD]
HoGiL < Aztec > JaedongGroup C:
Stork 2-1 (2-0) ►Advances to Round of 8Mind 2-1 (1-1) ►Advances to Round of 8ShineSea[VOD]
Stork < Pathfinder > Mind[VOD]
Sea < Icarus > Shine[VOD]
Stork < Aztec > Sea[VOD]
Mind < Aztec > Shine[VOD]
Shine < Gladiator > Stork[VOD]
Mind < Gladiator > Sea[VOD]
Stork < Gladiator > Mind[VOD]
Stork < Aztec > Shine[VOD]
Mind < Pathfinder > ShineGroup D:
Modesty 2-1 ►Advances to Round of 8Fantasy 2-1 ►Advances to Round of 8Hydrafree[VOD]
Fantasy < Icarus > Modesty[VOD]
free < Aztec > Hydra[VOD]
Hydra < Gladiator > Modesty[VOD]
free < Gladiator > Fantasy[VOD]
Hydra < Pathfinder > Fantasy[VOD]
Modesty < Pathfinder > freeBattle Reports
by Kwark
Group A
+ Show Spoiler [Flash vs Hyuk - Icarus] +
Okay, so everyone knows the result by now, the question is how did it happen? Flash's opening build wasn't great, a forward 8 rax meant for a bunker rush, forced to transition into a quick command centre against Hyuk's overpool. Flash's natural on Icarus was relatively exposed, so he couldn't simply go depot cc and safely expand the way he wanted. Therefore Flash was forced to do a two depot wallin, not actually starting his expansion until 17 supply. It was late, very late, "the lair was already on its way" kinda late.
Flash's scouting had been limited, and they were at close positions (12:00 - 3:00) where two hatch muta hits very fast. All his timings were off, the comsat came too late to give him time to react to scan intel and the turrets were just too late as well. Flash's marines couldn't do much on the terrain of Icarus so his response to being under this kind of pressure was to make a lot of turrets. Hyuk microed excellently and the map enabled him to keep the pressure for a very long time until Flash got irradiate. Meanwhile Hyuk established a third gas, got some drones together and transitioned. In the meanwhile, Flash never really built up an economy or production infrastructure.
Hyuk eventually came in with a big lair army of mutas, lurkers, and zerglings, and Flash found himself with too many turrets and not much of anything else. Though Flash barely held off the attack with his usual "defend now, win later" attitude, Hyuk already had an insurmountable advantage. The last few minutes of the game were just a formality before Flash GG'd out.
Flash's loss came through a combination of factors. The 8 rax and the layout of the natural gave him a very late natural expansion (though I'm not sure why he 8 raxed knowing this). Hyuk's build and all the above meant the mutalisk defences were a little late, and the map terrain, combined with Hyuk's good micro meant it was very difficult for Flash to retake any initiative. Unable to take any offensive action, it was inevitable Flash would sit there and die. Each factor exacerbated the existing problems to make Flash's situation progressively worse, it all flowed nicely to a Hyuk victory.
Match Ratings
Flash: 2/5
Hyuk: 4/5
Overall: 2/5
Wax's Take: Can't really blame Flash for making so many turrets in this game, because there was a real danger of dying straight up to mutalisks here. It's really hard to say what he could have done better outside really general things, like "don't 8 rax" or "less turrets, micro marines better."
+ Show Spoiler [Paralyze vs Kal - Icarus] +
In a battle of mutually revealed reaver rushes, Paralyze dared to try a drop anyway. Fortunately for Kal, Paralyze is both unlucky and bad at Starcraft. He got off one scarab before Kal could react, but he aimed for a probe that had just finished mining and was returning to the nexus. One kill. Following that, Paralyze let his reaver die to a scarab, because even with a speed-shuttle he couldn't pick it up in time.
With a one reaver advantage, Kal attacked directly for a clean win.
Match Ratings
Kal: 4/5
Paralyze: 2/5
Overall: 2/5
Wax's Take: I'm sad I can't use Afrotoss pictures anymore.
With a one reaver advantage, Kal attacked directly for a clean win.
Match Ratings
Kal: 4/5
Paralyze: 2/5
Overall: 2/5
Wax's Take: I'm sad I can't use Afrotoss pictures anymore.
Group B
+ Show Spoiler [Calm vs Hiya - Aztec] +
This game had both players accidentally going allin. It didn't make a whole lot of sense. Openings were pretty standard, with Hiya going for a rax FE vs a slightly rushy 2 hatch spire from Calm.
Hiya was going for a standard pre-emptive M&M pressure to force zerg to use mutalisks to defend, but four lucky speedlings ran into Hiya's base just as his army was departing. They bought just five, maybe ten seconds of time, but it was a critical delay. Hiya's M&M lost valuable marching time towards Calm's main, and the lack of threat allowed Calm's mutalisks to fly directly into the turretless Terran main.
Rather than play a painful, losing game of tag with mutalisks in his main, Hiya decided he was just going to pray for the best and send everything he had on a counter-attack. Though this solution worked versus a stupefied Jaedong during the opening week, Calm actually reacted correctly. While his mutas tore up Hiya's main for as long as possible, he built mass sunken colonies at his natural. He timed his mutalisk return precisely, coming to mop up Hiya's remaining troops after they had been heavily damaged by the stationary defenses.
Calm then coolly finished Hiya off, collecting the GG.
Match Ratings
Calm: 3/5
Hiya: 2/5
Overall: 2/5
Wax's Take: None.
Hiya was going for a standard pre-emptive M&M pressure to force zerg to use mutalisks to defend, but four lucky speedlings ran into Hiya's base just as his army was departing. They bought just five, maybe ten seconds of time, but it was a critical delay. Hiya's M&M lost valuable marching time towards Calm's main, and the lack of threat allowed Calm's mutalisks to fly directly into the turretless Terran main.
Rather than play a painful, losing game of tag with mutalisks in his main, Hiya decided he was just going to pray for the best and send everything he had on a counter-attack. Though this solution worked versus a stupefied Jaedong during the opening week, Calm actually reacted correctly. While his mutas tore up Hiya's main for as long as possible, he built mass sunken colonies at his natural. He timed his mutalisk return precisely, coming to mop up Hiya's remaining troops after they had been heavily damaged by the stationary defenses.
Calm then coolly finished Hiya off, collecting the GG.
Match Ratings
Calm: 3/5
Hiya: 2/5
Overall: 2/5
Wax's Take: None.
+ Show Spoiler [Jaedong vs Hogil - Aztec] +
The game opened with both players taking relatively quick expansions, and Jaedong testing Hogil's nerves with an early speedling attack. Hogil defended well, putting up a sunken just in case.
Around spire completion timing, both players decided to go for the obligatory zergling rush. In a curious turn of events, their lings ran past each other in the middle of the map with no combat whatsoever as they tacitly agreed to a base trade situation.
However Jaedong messed it up in a number of ways, initially by stopping to kill the sunken colony at Hogil's natural rather than running into the main where the drones and spire were. Meanwhile HoGiL went straight for Jaedong's drones. Jaedong eventually ran into the main but by the time he was there HoGiL had a sunken on the way.
Still, Jaedong could have struck a big blow by forcing down Hogil's spire. He nearly succeeded before he made a truly unbelievable mistake, where his zerglings simply stopped hitting a red HP spire and circled aimlessly around Hogil's drones, trying to get to the sunken colony.
That left Jaedong with 0 drones, under 50 minerals, and with just a handful of mutalisks against a fully operational opponent. In a similar manner to Zero during the RO36, Jaedong couldn't bring himself to go for an immediate last ditch attack in a situation where he was certainly going to lose in the next 30 seconds. He hung around for a minute and contemplated his mistakes: throwing a bunch of zerglings away early, doing a zergling allin counter with fewer zerglings than his opponent, then attacking base defences rather than running past them. After he let the reality of his elimination sink in (with some truly great facial expressions), Jaedong GG'd.
Match Ratings
Hogil: 3/5
Jaedong: 2/5
Overall: 2/5
Wax's Take: Ridiculously bad from Jaedong. Regardless of all his previous mistakes, if he had managed to take down the spire, he had a chance. And it was definitely going down, until he stopped attacking it for god knows what reason. The situation would have been 6~7 mutas for Jaedong against Hogil's two, and whatever scourge he had been hatching at the time. Definitely a situation where he could have tried to micro to a win.
Group C
+ Show Spoiler [Shine vs Stork - Gladiator] +
With standing openings in play for both players, Stork went for +1 attack and a fast citadel while trying to use his scouting zealots to simulate some pressure and force Shine to make some zerglings. However Shine one upped him by getting zergling speed quickly and killing the zealots which were faking pressure. Stork never wanted to actually attack with his first two zealots, he was just trying to force a bit of ling production to mess with Shine's econ. Shine's speed made Stork's build significantly weaker. Stork transitioned into more gateways and templar tech but there was no real window to use his +1 speedlots.
Shine did an extremely sexy timing attack. He gambled that while Stork was messing around with +1 zealots on the map he'd be switching to ht and storm. Therefore he took a few speedlings and two lurkers and attacked Stork's natural, which would have been stopped easily had there been any defenders. The choke had only freshly produced HTs to defend, and Shine was free to run in and kill the cannons and templars. Shine seized the opening and pumped pure hydra-lurk, a move Stork might have delayed if he had used his zealots in the field more wisely.
With his cannons and HTs gone, Stork had lost the core of his defense. With Shine on full troop production from multiple hatcheries, Stork could not keep up with the constant battering and was forced to GG.
Shine gets a lot of credit for that timing attack there, showing an excellent understanding of Protoss timings. Stork reacted poorly, the attack had already done all it could (only two lurkers were left) by the time his speedlot army returned, he should have kept them on the map to cut off reinforcements rather than have yet more useless zealots contained by the lurkers. The two lurkers could have ultimately just been ignored, their damage output was low and they couldn't get near the mineral line. However Shine was able to use them as a bridgehead from which he could continue to pound Stork's natural.
Match Ratings
Shine: 4/5
Stork: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Wax's Take: KwarK is so kind, I thought it was just dumb luck
. You can't really blame Shine for winning games within ten minutes when his opponents are making mistakes that practically beg for it.
Shine did an extremely sexy timing attack. He gambled that while Stork was messing around with +1 zealots on the map he'd be switching to ht and storm. Therefore he took a few speedlings and two lurkers and attacked Stork's natural, which would have been stopped easily had there been any defenders. The choke had only freshly produced HTs to defend, and Shine was free to run in and kill the cannons and templars. Shine seized the opening and pumped pure hydra-lurk, a move Stork might have delayed if he had used his zealots in the field more wisely.
With his cannons and HTs gone, Stork had lost the core of his defense. With Shine on full troop production from multiple hatcheries, Stork could not keep up with the constant battering and was forced to GG.
Shine gets a lot of credit for that timing attack there, showing an excellent understanding of Protoss timings. Stork reacted poorly, the attack had already done all it could (only two lurkers were left) by the time his speedlot army returned, he should have kept them on the map to cut off reinforcements rather than have yet more useless zealots contained by the lurkers. The two lurkers could have ultimately just been ignored, their damage output was low and they couldn't get near the mineral line. However Shine was able to use them as a bridgehead from which he could continue to pound Stork's natural.
Match Ratings
Shine: 4/5
Stork: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Wax's Take: KwarK is so kind, I thought it was just dumb luck
. You can't really blame Shine for winning games within ten minutes when his opponents are making mistakes that practically beg for it.+ Show Spoiler [Sea vs Mind - Gladiator] +
Sea started off with a highly advantageous rax-CC against Mind's much later factory-CC, but it was of no real consequence as both players were content to be passive and play towards the late game.
Sea was thinking too far ahead, spreading his troops too widely to claim a stake in territories he would not require for a while yet. Mind took advantage of this by concentrating his forces and attacking Sea's isolated positions with superior numbers.
Mind's superior positioning and battle micro (with repairs and sniping tanks with 2 hits and some vulture/wraith) cost Sea tanks over and over. Sea made some bad decisions too, reinforcing some of his falling positions rather than contracting and cutting his losses. Though Mind was technically the attacker, he had the defender's advantage when Sea came in to try and dislodge him.
Mind also got a much faster third base and third gas and used that to diversify his main army with some wraiths, thereby forcing goliaths and putting pressure on the gas and tank count. Overall Mind just displayed better awareness and was able to concentrate forces at key moments to establish cost effective victories. After numerous small-scale victories all over the map, Mind eventually had a big enough advantage to attack Sea directly and take the game.
Match Ratings
Mind: 4/5
Sea: 3/5
Overall: 4/5
Wax's Take: For better or worse, Mind often plays like a better Sea.
Group D
+ Show Spoiler [Fantasy vs Hydra - Pathfinder] +
After a lengthy period of banishment, the "Fantasy build" made its return. Yes, that cute goliath-valkyrie fast expansion designed for Terran users who have worthless M&M vs muta micro. Unfortunately for Fantasy, Hydra went for a 3 hatch hydralisk bust.
The hydra bust did a lot of damage, but it didn't finish Fantasy off. Although Fantasy microed incredibly he still lost a lot of scvs and took a lot of damage. Hydra got a lot of drones and unit production with the momentum from the push and Fantasy couldn't really do much until the late game.
Since his plan was to go double upgrade, turtle mech, it didn't bother Fantasy too much to be passive for twenty minutes, but it gave Hydra time to take bases, make drones and build hatcheries. Things worked out for Fantasy in the end, as Hydra tried a massive six hatch hydralisk attack rather then play for a hive stage game. The results were pretty predictable (hydralisks died).
Having committed himself to fighting the mech in the midgame, Hydra was left with one more option in a huge hydralisk drop. This went even more poorly than his ground attack, as he decided to land in the middle of a clearly visible minefield. As is typically the case when one has no units left, Hydra went on to lose the game.
Hydra did some damage early on but committed to breaking a mine + tank + terrain defence. He left himself no real exits and therefore lost when those attacks failed.
Match Ratings
Fantasy: 4/5
Hydra: 2/5
Overall: 2/5
Wax's Take: After a solid month of seeing Hydra play like a beast, it was pretty jarring to see him play a straight up BAD game.
The hydra bust did a lot of damage, but it didn't finish Fantasy off. Although Fantasy microed incredibly he still lost a lot of scvs and took a lot of damage. Hydra got a lot of drones and unit production with the momentum from the push and Fantasy couldn't really do much until the late game.
Since his plan was to go double upgrade, turtle mech, it didn't bother Fantasy too much to be passive for twenty minutes, but it gave Hydra time to take bases, make drones and build hatcheries. Things worked out for Fantasy in the end, as Hydra tried a massive six hatch hydralisk attack rather then play for a hive stage game. The results were pretty predictable (hydralisks died).
Having committed himself to fighting the mech in the midgame, Hydra was left with one more option in a huge hydralisk drop. This went even more poorly than his ground attack, as he decided to land in the middle of a clearly visible minefield. As is typically the case when one has no units left, Hydra went on to lose the game.
Hydra did some damage early on but committed to breaking a mine + tank + terrain defence. He left himself no real exits and therefore lost when those attacks failed.
Match Ratings
Fantasy: 4/5
Hydra: 2/5
Overall: 2/5
Wax's Take: After a solid month of seeing Hydra play like a beast, it was pretty jarring to see him play a straight up BAD game.
+ Show Spoiler [Free vs Modesty - Pathfinder] +
This game was an extremely standard example of one of the most standard PvZ builds ever. What makes it interesting, for me at least, is that everything Free touched turned to gold. He took a fast second gas, a fast +1 ground attack, pumped corsairs out of one stargate with +1 air while going fast legs and a second gateway. It's an extremely standard timing attack; the second gateway delays the tech a bit but with +1 air and constant corsair production the Protoss can cover himself from mutalisks.
The +1 speedlot attack happened while Modesty did the standard 3 hat spire 5 hat hydra build. The double entrances to the perimeter bases on Pathfinder meant Modesty's building sim-city at this third base was mostly worthless, and he was forced to throw a lot of zerglings at the zealots after his sunkens fell.
Free reached critical corsair mass as well, and killed an awful lot of overlords while all this was going on. All the scourge that came to defend were cut down, and soon Free's food count had ballooned to double Modesty's. And then, he simply killed his opponent. Not much really to say to be honest, it was a PvZ where everything Protoss did exactly what it was meant to which ended the game as one might hope. I've only written this much because I'm a Protoss fanboy.
Match Ratings
Free: 4/5
Modesty: 1/5
Overall: 2/5
Wax's Take: They need to think of a format where we don't have games like this where both players are already eliminated.
The +1 speedlot attack happened while Modesty did the standard 3 hat spire 5 hat hydra build. The double entrances to the perimeter bases on Pathfinder meant Modesty's building sim-city at this third base was mostly worthless, and he was forced to throw a lot of zerglings at the zealots after his sunkens fell.
Free reached critical corsair mass as well, and killed an awful lot of overlords while all this was going on. All the scourge that came to defend were cut down, and soon Free's food count had ballooned to double Modesty's. And then, he simply killed his opponent. Not much really to say to be honest, it was a PvZ where everything Protoss did exactly what it was meant to which ended the game as one might hope. I've only written this much because I'm a Protoss fanboy.
Match Ratings
Free: 4/5
Modesty: 1/5
Overall: 2/5
Wax's Take: They need to think of a format where we don't have games like this where both players are already eliminated.
Tiebreaker Turmoil: Group C - VODs - Interviews
by WaxAngel
+ Show Spoiler [Stork vs Mind - Gladiator] +
Having exhausted all other methods of mauling Terran players, Stork decided to go for what was a refreshing display old school macro power. Mind must have imagined he had the late-game chops to hang with Stork, but he was proven sorely wrong.
A little early-game posturing aside, this game quickly went into free-expand mode. It turned into something like four base terran vs six base protoss very quickly, with huge armies appearing on both sides. Instead of going for the carriers that had served him so well, Stork went for a huge gateway force supported by spellcasters in arbiters and templars. And they killed.
With more money than his opponent, Stork was not afraid to trade blows. Not only did he hold his ground, but he had Mind wobbling on his feet. With excellent use of stasis field and psi storm, Stork was nullifying upgraded mech’s ridiculous splash with his own overpowered abilities.
The battles appeared to go evenly, but again, Stork had six bases to Mind’s four. After several rounds in the meatgrinder, Mind was running out of gas while Stork was still merrily rampaging along. A few more rounds passed, and Mind threw in the towel.
Kwark's Take: Mind started at a disadvantage and couldn't find an easy third expansion on Gladiator. With no expansion for the midgame Mind tried to do his trademark mass vulture harass which Stork saw coming and countered with observers at key positions on the map. Stork's third was much faster while Mind's midgame did no damage. Mind didn't really do anything so Stork took six bases which left him with no real options if his single maxed 2-1 push didn't win. Stork did a very nice pushbreak with shuttle storms and killed all Mind's tanks which bought him a load of time to get his bases going. From then on Stork had more money and map control so he won.
Stork: 4/5
Mind: 3/5
Overall: 4/5
A little early-game posturing aside, this game quickly went into free-expand mode. It turned into something like four base terran vs six base protoss very quickly, with huge armies appearing on both sides. Instead of going for the carriers that had served him so well, Stork went for a huge gateway force supported by spellcasters in arbiters and templars. And they killed.
With more money than his opponent, Stork was not afraid to trade blows. Not only did he hold his ground, but he had Mind wobbling on his feet. With excellent use of stasis field and psi storm, Stork was nullifying upgraded mech’s ridiculous splash with his own overpowered abilities.
The battles appeared to go evenly, but again, Stork had six bases to Mind’s four. After several rounds in the meatgrinder, Mind was running out of gas while Stork was still merrily rampaging along. A few more rounds passed, and Mind threw in the towel.
Kwark's Take: Mind started at a disadvantage and couldn't find an easy third expansion on Gladiator. With no expansion for the midgame Mind tried to do his trademark mass vulture harass which Stork saw coming and countered with observers at key positions on the map. Stork's third was much faster while Mind's midgame did no damage. Mind didn't really do anything so Stork took six bases which left him with no real options if his single maxed 2-1 push didn't win. Stork did a very nice pushbreak with shuttle storms and killed all Mind's tanks which bought him a load of time to get his bases going. From then on Stork had more money and map control so he won.
Stork: 4/5
Mind: 3/5
Overall: 4/5
+ Show Spoiler [Stork vs Shine - Aztec] +
Fulfilling the wishes of anti-fans across the world, Shine got screwed over by a lair stage attack. Stork’s attack, anyway. Using the same +1 speedlot rush from their previous meeting, Stork got amazing results at Shine’s third base.
With this solid advantage, Stork made a smart move and expanded quickly. In another smart move, he scouted Shine’s somewhat obvious muta-switch and pumped sairs to counter them, and to complete his brainy trifecta, he made a pair of reavers to accompany his hanbang rush.
This thoroughly countered Shine’s play from behind playbook of 1) Switch mutas, buying drone time and doing some economic damage, 2) Backdoor Protoss’s third base attempt while delaying with lurkers, 3) Turtle with lurkers and sunkens until hive.
Stork’s hanbang army laid waste to everything in its past, and he received the GG and passage into the RO8.
Kwark's Take: Stork did the same standard PvZ opening as he did in the last match against Shine but didn't lose his first few zealots. Shine tried to do the same trick as last time with a speedling counter as Stork pushed out but Stork was ready to block him with a cannon in his main while Shine's wall was lacking zerglings to plug the gaps.
Shine's plan of holding the 12 natural and taking the main while using muta to get map control was good in theory but Stork just expanded everywhere with archons, dragoons and corsairs. Stork's supply count surged ahead of his opponents and he simply killed him. After the drone losses at the start and the mass sunkens Shine was always behind in eco. He should have used those early zerglings to defend.
Stork: 4/5
Shine: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
With this solid advantage, Stork made a smart move and expanded quickly. In another smart move, he scouted Shine’s somewhat obvious muta-switch and pumped sairs to counter them, and to complete his brainy trifecta, he made a pair of reavers to accompany his hanbang rush.
This thoroughly countered Shine’s play from behind playbook of 1) Switch mutas, buying drone time and doing some economic damage, 2) Backdoor Protoss’s third base attempt while delaying with lurkers, 3) Turtle with lurkers and sunkens until hive.
Stork’s hanbang army laid waste to everything in its past, and he received the GG and passage into the RO8.
Kwark's Take: Stork did the same standard PvZ opening as he did in the last match against Shine but didn't lose his first few zealots. Shine tried to do the same trick as last time with a speedling counter as Stork pushed out but Stork was ready to block him with a cannon in his main while Shine's wall was lacking zerglings to plug the gaps.
Shine's plan of holding the 12 natural and taking the main while using muta to get map control was good in theory but Stork just expanded everywhere with archons, dragoons and corsairs. Stork's supply count surged ahead of his opponents and he simply killed him. After the drone losses at the start and the mass sunkens Shine was always behind in eco. He should have used those early zerglings to defend.
Stork: 4/5
Shine: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
+ Show Spoiler [Mind vs Shine - Pathfinder] +
Surely these two must have played this scenario out many time in practice, as they went two port wraith vs two hatch mutalisks on Pathfinder. I don't know what Shine faced in practice, but he must have really hated those wraiths. After getting a few mutalisks and scourge out, he went for a very reckless attack on the Terran main, which was already defended with turrets.
I can only assume his intent was to try and trade mutalisks for wraiths before the cloaking upgrade was complete, as wraiths need to reach a certain critical mass to be dangerous. However, his execution was not crisp and it ended up being more of a mutalisks throwaway than a unit trade. Mind just safely took his own natural, while even adding a few valkyries which gave his wraiths free access to Shine's main.
Shine made a late transition to land troops with drops, a desperate move to get him back in the game. He managed to drop successfully but didn't do any real damage, and it was not long till GG from there.
Kwark's Take: Shine never really got the chance to powerdrone because he lost many of his early mutalisks with no damage done and had to keep making mutalisks to keep his defence up. A slow, safe Terran expansion was the nail in the coffin, outstripping Shine economically while he was still forced to make units to defend. Shine needed to regain some initiative to get breathing room to sort out his economy but his drop was blocked fairly easily and he just found himself without money or options.
Mind's build was very high tech while Shine's counter was very lair focussed which meant that when neither landed a killing blow Mind was left with the smoother transitions. He had the money and the tech to switch into the late game while Shine needed more time and delayed himself further by getting drop tech. However he couldn't really get anything going because Mind found it pretty easy to defend two adjacent bases from known threats.
Mind: 4/5
Shine: 2/5
Overall: 4/5
I can only assume his intent was to try and trade mutalisks for wraiths before the cloaking upgrade was complete, as wraiths need to reach a certain critical mass to be dangerous. However, his execution was not crisp and it ended up being more of a mutalisks throwaway than a unit trade. Mind just safely took his own natural, while even adding a few valkyries which gave his wraiths free access to Shine's main.
Shine made a late transition to land troops with drops, a desperate move to get him back in the game. He managed to drop successfully but didn't do any real damage, and it was not long till GG from there.
Kwark's Take: Shine never really got the chance to powerdrone because he lost many of his early mutalisks with no damage done and had to keep making mutalisks to keep his defence up. A slow, safe Terran expansion was the nail in the coffin, outstripping Shine economically while he was still forced to make units to defend. Shine needed to regain some initiative to get breathing room to sort out his economy but his drop was blocked fairly easily and he just found himself without money or options.
Mind's build was very high tech while Shine's counter was very lair focussed which meant that when neither landed a killing blow Mind was left with the smoother transitions. He had the money and the tech to switch into the late game while Shine needed more time and delayed himself further by getting drop tech. However he couldn't really get anything going because Mind found it pretty easy to defend two adjacent bases from known threats.
Mind: 4/5
Shine: 2/5
Overall: 4/5
"Best OSL Ever"
by Milkis
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/jdfail.jpg)
With some of the worst decision making I have ever seen in professional matches, Jaedong and Flash both managed to find themselves out of the OSL. Perhaps it's a curse or perhaps they both had an off day, but you'd need the power of both theories to explain why Flash decided to 8 rax Hyuk out of all people, or why Jaedong failed to snipe the Spire or why he played so aggressively and took huge risks against Hogil out of all the Zergs. It wasn't that Hogil or Hyuk played particularly well -- it was that Jaedong and Flash, well, made rather questionable decisions.
It's time to celebrate, right? Stork fans must be ecstatic -- Song Byung Goo for Gold! With Lee Ssang and Shine out of the way, it's finally the year of the Protoss, with Stork and Kal leading the way. Or perhaps some people were just tired of Lee Ssang dominated finals -- as if, they've just accepted that their heroes have little chance against Flash and Jaedong.
Perhaps it's because I'm a huge Jaedong fan, but I think such attitudes are rather disgusting. I don't think there is any worth to winning a Starleague, especially nowadays, if you do not take down Flash or Jaedong on the way to the top. Stork's sole purpose in this league was to bring Flash or Jaedong (or both!) to their knees and rise to the top -- yet, he gets to do neither. Whoever wins this OSL is now forever cursed with winning based on a fluke -- much like JulyZerg's last OSL victory. There's no reason to believe that whoever wins this OSL is at the top of the game -- regardless of what their ELO may look like by the end of the league. There's no glory to it, merely a title. Wouldn't victory be sweeter for Fantasy if he beat Jaedong in a BoX on his way? But all we're left with are potentially freakish scenarios such as the Zerg overwhelming the Protoss and Terran, and Modesty emerging to win it all.
You're free to say that this all makes the OSL more interesting, but in the end, we're missing out on potential epic history making in all of this. In the end, this Starleague will mean much less -- Fantasy may escape the Kong line (which is only a gimmick), Stork may get his second gold, but in the end, all you would gain from this is another title -- nothing, in the end, that says that the player is anywhere near the top of his game. I lament the opportunity lost for Stork and Fantasy -- especially since both of these players had shown they could put up a fight against the Lee Ssang in a BoX just last season.
But this is not to defend Flash nor Jaedong. As Carefree Me put it -- "At least Bisu lost to Shine". Losing to Hyuk and Hogil is simply indefensible and I question both Flash and Jaedong's game sense in a BoX series -- especially Jaedong's. Jaedong seems to have forgotten how to play the game -- being overconfident and over aggressive against weaker players when he does not need to take such risks, or being too greedy against top calibur players and being punished for it -- how many games has he lost because he didn't build up an army? I hope during this off season for Jaedong and Flash, they are able to recover their game, and bring back what high-end Brood War is all about.
Look, I don't know where Milkis lives either. So don't ask me.
Quarter-Final Preview
by WaxAngel
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SilverskY/BacchusRo8.jpg)
Common sense might tell you that team-kill situations shouldn’t change the expected outcome of a multi-game series. However, there are some strange mind games involved against someone you’ve played hundreds of times in practice, to the point where nothing you do makes sense to an outside observer (that’s a fake-fake-fake-fake-fake-fake four pool, the correct response must be to 14 cc).
The ghost of Bacchus past came to remind me that there was an almost identical situation in the 2009 Bacchus OSL, where Leta played his teammate Type-B (now disgraced and retired for his involvement in the match-fixing scandal) in the quarter-finals.
The similarities are starting: The team’s fan favorite, superstar Terran ace goes up against his under-appreciated, decidedly mediocre zerg ‘ace’ teammate. In 2009, the Hollywood premise led to a Hollywood ending as the underdog Type-B took down a strangely vexed Leta.
Prediction: This one is just too volatile to call. Two wildly inconsistent players + the team-kill factor means anything is possible.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SilverskY/BacchusRo8B.jpg)
With two BLAH team-kills and another SvT demolition (forget JvZ, Stork vs Terran is the new vogue), this is our marquee matchup. On an excitement scale of “observing continental drift” to “multiple-nerdgasms,” this one measures in at “casually interested.”
Performance wise, Mind and Calm are pretty similar players. They are talented players who got their s*** together for just long enough to win an MSL, but after that they’ve fallen into a spell of horrible inconsistency. They’re still the second best players on their teams (and the aces at their best), and can look very good against mediocre competition.
In terms of playstyle, they differ greatly. Mind is a jack of all trades who likes to play it safe; in other words he is one of the most boring active progamers. On the other hand, Calm plays a more cerebral game, though it might be more accurate to call him a clever player than an intelligent one. It’s an interesting quirk of fate that they’ve ended up on similar career paths.
With two pretty good, evenly matched players with contrasting playstyles going at it, it will make for some entertaining if unenticing Starcraft.
Prediction: Mind, solely because his general form is slightly better as of late.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SilverskY/BacchusRo8C.jpg)
See: Hyuk vs Fantasy
Ok, there is actually one little complication that might influence the outcome. By picking up two wins in the RO16 that directly led to Flash’s elimination, Kal has accumulated a ton of bad Karma.
“Thanks for saving my life pal, now let me bring your record setting run to an unceremonious end.” You think the BW gods (no, not THAT god) are gonna let that fly? Sorry Kal, you’ve got divine retribution coming.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SilverskY/BacchusRo8D.jpg)
Or...
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/storkcarp.jpg)
I think that sums it up nicely? With JD and Flash out of the OSL, it’s now Stork’s turn to administer the no holds barred beatdowns. Let me lay it out, plain and simple. Stork: best vsT in the world. Hiya: third best vsP on Hwaseung OZ?
I guess OnGameNet really wants that Stork versus Fantasy final as their backup plan. I can’t blame them for their lack of subtlety, since it’s pretty hard to discretely rig your brackets once you’re down to eight players.
Prediction: Without doing a ton of research, I think I can safely assume this will go down as a top 15 most one-sided RO8 matchup in OSL history.
Jaedong why oh why??
