EPT
1) Jinsu (Z) ("Jang Jin-su") > [Oops]Reach (P) - Gaema Gowon
2) Sir@Soni~(Z) ("Lee Jae-hang") < [Oops]Lee (T) ("Lee Woon-jae") - Gaema Gowon
3) [Oops]Lee (T) > Jinsu (Z) - Neo Forbidden Zone -> [Oops]Lee qualifies for the nest OGN Starleague
4) Sir@Soni~ (Z) > [Oops]Reach (P) - Avant Garde II
5) Sir@Soni~(Z) < Jinsu (Z) - Neo Bifrost -> Jinsu qualifies for the nest OGN Starleague
So, [Oops]Lee makes it into another Starleague and shows that he's no fluke. Lee (@8) somehow managed to win a shootout v Sir@Soni~ (@11) on Gaema Gowon when the Zerg player had his forces outnumbered and outgunned for the longest time. Lee at one point even almost had his natural pushed completely by wave after wave of lurkers. Both players seemed nervous and tentative and Lee never really got into his rhythm until the very end when he started effectively touring with M&M + tank + vessels. Sir@Soni~ never really got into his rhythm at all. Lots of control and strategic mistakes in this one, but hey, a win's a win.
Lee's victory over Jinsu was much better played. And a real shootout (Are ANY of Lee's games NOT a shootout? A candidate for "Desperate Terran II?" What say you, Bertrand?). And Lee showed why he used to be called (and may yet be again in the near future...) "The Living Marine." Lee (@11) opened with an interesting no expo 2 rax M&M + upgrades. Lee never even attempted to move out from his main until he had a sizable M&M battle group ready with vessel and ship support. Jinsu (@5) went quick muta/scourge, hoping to catch Lee napping with his dropships, but Lee had planned for it and matrixed his ships whenever they had cargo. Jinsu tried mass expoing then did a neat switch to Guardians that almost caught Lee off-guard, but Jinsu didn't have an effective counter for Lee's vessels and was never really able to take advantage. It was a back-and-forth game the rest of the way with Lee dropping on Jinsu's expos all over the place, while Jinsu desperately tried to counter with lurker/hydra, then lurker/hydra/defiler combos. In the end tho, Jinsu wasn't able to raze even a single one of Lee's expos (Lee's natural and the 8 natural) and that cost him the match. Entertaining stuff. Lee did a nice job defending his expos and once again proved why you never let a T player fully upgrade M&Ms 3/3 (yep, 3/3) if you're a Zerg. Lee even tackled Jinsu's natural which was defended by 7 sunkens with just M&Ms - and wasted them all without breaking a sweat. Wow. Anyway, Lee ain't the flashiest Terran player around, but he gets the job done. The Living Marine cometh!
As happy as [Oops]Lee was to qualify for another Starleague, it's next to nothing compared to the ecstatic joy Jinsu must've felt. Not only is Jinsu in his first Starleague, he made it after EIGHT failed attempts over FOUR excruciatingly long years! Talk about an exercise in futility. If Jinsu had failed again this time (after such a strong showing in the Challenge League and that heart-breaking loss to Nal_rA on Neo Bifrost), I would've had to recommend a name change: "Susan Lucci_Forever." But, he didn't fail. And now he has the chance to finally move out of his brother's considerable shadow and become more than just one-half of the best 2v2 team in the world.
Jinsu did it in style, too. Not only did he handily defeat the reigning OGN Champion Reach (as bad as he is these days...), but he even managed to psych out the win versus the ZvZ specialist Sir@Soni~. Reach (@11) tried a cute 1 gate main + 2 proxy gate hardcore zealot rush on Jinsu. Jinsu (@8) had started an early natural and panicked for a bit before regaining composure. After that initial outburst from the Hero Toss tho, it was all Jinsu. Reach tried switching to goon/temps/zealots, but I got the feeling he had banked everything on the proxy gates. Reach just got bottled up inside his main and was never allowed to expand. Got slowly squeezed by wave after wave of hydra/lurker/speedlings. Jinsu's victory over Sir@Soni~ on Neo Bifrost was even more impressive - because Jinsu got outplayed and out-strategized, but won the mind game and the match. It was a muta/scourge/ling fight right from the start. Jinsu was the aggressor most of the game, playing cat-and-mouse muta/ling harrass. Jae-hang concentrated more on steady tech and expansion and was obviously outplaying Jinsu for 99% of the game - nothing Jinsu tried seemed to work. But, as with almost all ZvZ games, Jae-hang lost one decisive muta battle and that was the match. Jae-hang should've been more aggressive. He was obviously playing better, better control, forces virtually even. But, Jinsu just psyched him out and forced his opponent to play scared. Excellent, excellent win.
Sir@Soni~ goes back to his IS team with his tail between his legs. Kind of felt bad for him - his parents were in the audience to cheer him on.
And Reach...what can I say? This guy is in a serious slump. And another Protoss bites the proverbial dust. Only two more groups left in the Duel Tournament and only two more Protoss players, Zeus and forU. If neither of them make it, we will have the lowest Protoss race turnout in any Starleague ever - just one (Kingdom, who received an automatic seed due to his 1st place finish in the Challenge League).
Anyone wanna place bets...?
NEXT: Boxer (T), Gyuntae (Z), Jinnam (Z), Zeus (P)
- no way.
