Battle Report:
Jaehoon vs RorO

If you’re at all like me (which I figure you are, since you are reading this at the moment), the last week with minimal amounts on Brood War was almost immeasurably painful. But after 5 rounds of differing formats, slumps, upsets, and even bans after those upsets (<3 Shine), the final sprint begins. Which will be the qualifying teams? With so many teams fighting for places 4-9, and the #1 spot even more highly prized than in previous rounds, we are bound to see some very tense efforts, and fanboy tears both of joy and of disappointment, for the road to the playoffs is still riddled with hardships... Here are the previews for the games next week, categorized by days, as I see them.



The first massacre will take place on OGN, as the orange fist of SK Telecom pounds upon the weathered remains of STX SouL. Once in constant conflict for second place, SK Telecom has resoundingly revived Bisu, and strengthened BeSt and Fantasy enough to be threats to every outside force again, even the TBLS (with the exception of ZvBest, dohsairs still exist in this universe). Their other forces look formidable as well, By.Sun showing brilliant games here and then and the SKTZergs take turns being competent. How then could STX even dream of defeating such a beast? by.hero, Calm and Kal are mere shadows of their former selves, Hwasin has sunk into the abyss itself, and Bogus resoundingly lost to Bisu the last few times they met, if the paltry guard of STX should reach the Ace match. But when heroes are needed, they sometimes answer the call - Shuttle and hyvaa are on the upturn again, and Last and Modesty may channel the promise they've shown yet again to help out their team in this time of need. STX has even called in their Final Ace, but it will likely still not be enough. SKT should win 4-1.



The second massacre will take place on MBC. CJ Entus is the natural enemy of Hwaseung OZ, since one of them is Ace dependant and the other consists of players who are good enough to be Aces. This is evidenced by the successes of those teams in Winners League and Proleague. All games between the two in Proleague were won by CJ, whereas all games in Winners League were won by OZ. This is of course oversimplifying matters, but CJ as of now are completely imba, with sKyHigh rebounding, Leta in good form, Hydra in good form, Horang2 in excellent form, Movie in good form and players of the calibre of Snow on the bench for not being good enough to send out... OZ will have it's work cut out for it. sHy, Dear and Sky are slow to realize their potential as of now, Killer seems shaky and HiyA feels the burden of OZ on his shoulders and fails to help overcome it. God help them if Jaedong should lose faith in himself and enter a slump, but the outcome of the MSL probably isn't helping matters. CJ should dominate 4-1, but I'm less sure of this one than the STX match. Also not helping: the final match being played on La Mancha and Leta playing on CJ.



The sun is shining brightly on the day when these teams meet... Well, in some part of the world, anyway. Nevertheless, the victors will have overcome considerable adversity, no matter the team. Stars not only overcame the slump of their starplayer free, but also a noteriety for losing ace matches in the last rounds. Light, Really and Flying on the lineup greatly aid with this sort of task, obviously, but team morale is hard to change, and in this, Stars has succeeded. Their team morale is one of winners, albeit not necessarily heroes. The underdogs and greater heroes (in my opinion) in this match are MBCGame HERO, who find themselves preservering in spite of all odds once more. With the departure of Light, and possible close retirements of Jaehoon and Saint, MBC still won 3 games of 9, used their rookies to pad out the lineup of which only 5 players had ELO scores, and clenched their teeth, determined to give it their all - no matter what. The Ace match on Alternative also plays into the hands of Stars, as ZerO is on fire lately, and Alternative is probably bad for TvZ, but I think we'll see MBC make this match difficult for them. A 4-2 win for Stars is likely, but a win by MBC would be a lot more impressive.




The future is looking bleak for KT - fOrGG gone, Violet in therapy, Tempest is playing badly, Action is shaky, Stats is wildly alterating in form, the rookies largely wet behind the ears, and perhaps worst of all, Flash's career is nearing it's untimely end in a yet unknown time period. But they still have this year, and they still look strong enough to take a match from anyone they damn well please, although this can also be said of their opponent. In the blue corner we find Air Force ACE, a seasoned team fully composed of veterans and have-beens, longing for some chance at glory. Truly, this season, ACE has shown results like never before, truly establishing itself as a major contender at one point, although the abysmal results in Winners League nullified all of the previous progress. Yet, they still march on, although they leaft a few questions in their wake at the end of Round 5. Questions like: What happened to ggaemo? Do Iris and firebathero really get outplayed by PianO in practice to justify him being the Ace player? Will Canata still suck on ACE? Regardless of these questions, I see a close and exciting match, KT winning 4-3, since Aztec is no longer a TvP graveyard.



This day is the day of Survival, because the teams participating fight for the closely contested places 4-9, and defeat signals ever diminishing hopes for the team that fears being left at the doorstep of the Playoffs. WeMade FOX and Hwaseung OZ are the trailers, and both desperately need this win. WeMade looks to be the favorite, but looks might easily be deceptive. At the start of every round I keep thinking to myself that WeMade will start doing better. The interviews show them hopeful. Players show some new promise. And then... disappointment. Shine and BaBy in particular seem to have dropped the ball, and RorO and Pure are nowhere near as consistent as they were during last years playoffs. Hwaseung has its own problems, but I'm inclined to see this as a close 4-3 Hwaseung victory, especially if it gets to Ace Match on the Zerg-friendly map Alternative.




Samsung should have been at the very top of the ladder this season, but Stork, JangBi and
great have become weaker while the rookies became promising one by one. The success stories of TurN, Brave, Grape and Reality, in that order could easily have dominated the Proleague. However, now Samsung finds itself in the middle of the pack, although at this moment, strong and full of momentum. It's a good time to meet rival STX, who will probably find Samsung a difficult, yet manageable opponent, if the strengths can be sufficiently utilized. Reality vs. Shuttle, Stork vs. Calm, and Grape vs. Bogus could turn the tide towards STX, but KHAN is no opponent to be underestimated. Even if January makes very questionable choices in the lineup. For this reason, I predict a 4-3 STX upset, but this game can go so many ways. A 4-0 by KHAN wouldn't surprise me at all.



Bam. Easily game of the Week. Woongjin Stars is on fire, it's Ace player in the finals of MSL, capable of beating anyone and anything. On the other side, the nigh-insufferablevulnerable SK Telecom T1, that has dominated the Proleague for almost the entirety of it's 5 round run. Look forward to
ZerO vs. Bisu, Neo.G_Soulkey vs. Fantasy, Light vs. BeSt, free vs. s2 and Really vs. By.Sun. This should be a good day of BW, and any outcome is possible. I think a repeat of the last game, 4-3 Stars will occur, but the current monstrous form of Bisu might make this wishful thinking rather than the truth.



The match on MBC, on the other hand, looks weak in comparison. Although ACE has what it takes to take a game from anyone, CJ looks as if it is going to dominate most of round 6, if the core players play as they do. Keeping it short this time, I think this will be a 4-0 CJ steamroll.



The week ends with games that promise to be great, and I think they won't disappoint. KHAN vs. KT will be a battle of equals in that we have rookies rising to the occasion, slightly sloppy performances from several of the main lineup, and two aces whose matches are almost always stuff of which BW fan dreams are made of. Although both teams suffer from inconsistency, I'm currently banking on this match to fulfill it's potential and be one of the best this week. Slightly edging for a 4-3 KT win here, but honestly, no idea.



MBC vs. FOX is usually one of the least followed matchups of the PL, but at least I'm fairly certain it won't be one-sided, especially with a lot for both teams on the line here. I think it will come down to the Ace Match on La Mancha, and I think Sea will make it 4-3 for MBC, because he's clutch, but it could also end up being one of BaBy's lucky Rainbow Socks days, where he is close to unbeatable. Certainly hoping for a good close match, though.