[SPL] Opening Day

May 20th, 2012 01:47 GMT

The Basics
Get informed about the hybrid league

Matchups
How does the 'other' game play out?

Team Analysis
Get to know the players

Coaching Strategy
How might the coaches approach this season

Stay up to date on Liquipedia

The day has finally come. Tonight we will get our first look at how Brood War progamers fare in Starcraft 2. The hybrid league will bring many new challenges to the players and coaches, while also challenging the fans to accept a new game. This season of SPL will also see a bunch of new fans arrive from the SC2 scene, hihi to you guys! Both the old fans and the new need to remember that while you may not enjoy the other game, you should at least respect it. This means no game bashing! If you want to complain, keep it to Pholon's thread and not the LR thread.

Indeed, we on the SPL team don't think that there needs to be any hostility between BW and SC2 fans. And with a bit of understanding and knowledge, both groups should be able to coexist peacefully. To that effect, the SPL team has gone to great lengths to ensure that this post is accessible to both BW fans and people who have never seen a proleague match in their life. This post will have a brief overview of each game and how each matchup plays out, analysis of each team both on a basic level and advanced level as well as some other tidbits of information that we hope are interesting to both.

We hope you enjoy this season of SPL!

-- Plexa

The Basics for SPL S2

By: Plexa

This season of the SK Proleague will be broken into three rounds ending at the end of August. The top ranking teams will progress to the playoffs which will be played out in September. This season, as you are all probably aware, will be the first season of Proleague to feature Starcraft 2. KeSPA haven’t completely removed Brood War from Proleague, each Proleague match will be split into a Bo3 of Brood War and a Bo3 of Starcraft 2. Should each team win a Bo3 there will be a Starcraft 2 ace match to determine the winner. To ensure that players aren’t forced to train only for one game, players will be forced to alternate between Brood War and SC2. By this KeSPA means that if you are sent out for Brood War in a match, then the next time you are sent out you must play Starcraft 2. The ace match is excluded from this, as in if a players last match was Starcraft 2 then they are still eligible to be chosen for the ace match.

It’s important to realise that this isn’t your standard Bo7 format. This is two Bo3s and an ace match which serves as a tie breaker. If one team goes 2-0 in the Brood War matches but 1-2 in the Starcraft 2 matches, then there will be an ace match. The maps for the Brood War portion of the season will be Neo Electric Circuit, Neo Ground Zero, Neo Jade, and Neo Sniper Ridge. The maps for the Starcraft 2 portion will be the WSC versions of Antiga Shipyard, Entombed Valley, Cloud Kingdom and Ohana (as in, neutral supply depos, no golds and locked spawns). In fear of bombarding you with too much information in this post (particularly for the game that you don't follow) we won't break down these maps and analyse them, but the interested reader can use this thread to discuss and ask questions about the maps. You can check out the maps for this season below;

Mouse over to view the maps for the upcoming season!
From left to right: Antiga Shipyard, Entombed Valley, Ohana, Cloud Kingdom, Ground Zero, Jade, Sniper Ridge

So far as broadcasting is concerned, OGN will be broadcasting this via the ESportsTV channel on Youtube (will be linked on the sidebar as normal) in 480p. Some of you guys from Starcraft 2 may be a little disappointed with that, but broadcasting Brood War in any higher resolution doesn’t improve the quality so it’s understandable that OGN has chosen this resolution. In the future this may change. Remember that this is the first week of the first season after all! At this stage OGN will only be broadcasting SPL in Korean but Pokebunny and Sayle will be doing a live restream of the event with English commentary! Presumably, they will associate their cast with the event so you will be able to select it from the sidebar as well. OGN have also recently hired Kim Chul Min to cast Proleague (probably best known for this) which should make this one of the strongest casting line-ups, ever, for Proleague.

To celebrate the start of the new season there will be a massive Proleague day on the 20th (today) starting at 1200 KST and will feature all eight teams playing. It is reasonable to expect that the day will last until 2000 KST. The matches being played will be SKT vs Team 8, CJ vs KT, ACE vs Kahn and Woongjin vs STX. In future, you can expect games to be played on Sat/Sun at 12:00 KST and Mon/Tue at 15:00 KST. Of course the SPL team will be here throughout the season keeping you informed on the progress of the league week to week.

This section is specifically devoted towards outlining the basic ideas underpinning each matchup in Brood War. Assuming you roughly know what the units do, the following section should help to bring you up to speed with the current metagame for each matchup. Admittedly, this isn't a comprehensive guide to understanding each of the matchups and speaks in massive generalities and so I'm sure some Brood War veterans will try and pull me up on one or two things. But this guide isn't about giving you a 100% complete and detailed picture of what is going on. This guide is aimed at giving you enough information so that you can watch a game of Brood War and have an understanding of what each side is trying to achieve at each point in the game.

Please select one of the matchups below to begin learning about the basics of Brood War.

P v Z
P v T
P v P
T v Z
T v T
Z v Z

Protoss vs. Zerg

Early Game:

Early game: The early game of PvZ is quite similar to SC2, in that both sides will get a very quick expansion and the zerg player will try to secure another base on top of that very shortly afterwards. From the protoss point of view, he will be looking to scout the zerg and see if the zerg is preparing any kind of all in, if so, he will make a lot of cannons to defend. Normally a probe scout can survive in the zergs base until the zergling speed finishes. To continue scouting the protoss will grab a stargate and build a corsair or two. Meanwhile, the zerg will be keeping an eye on the protoss via zerglings and overlords while trying to deny any further probe scouting with zerglings. A standard zerg would also take a quick third base, similar to how you see zergs taking quick thirds in SC2.

A corsair performs his scouting duties

Mid Game:

Generally a zerg will look to go up to 5 hatches to get a strong economy and getting both a spire and a hydralisk den before really committing to either tech. Usually a corsair scout will be able to see that the zerg has gone up to 5 hatches and see both tech buildings before being chased out by scourges. While aggressive zerg options are viable and see some use, the bread and butter ZvP strategy is to build a simcity wall at their natural and third and defend them with lurkers, sunkens and spores. They will also try and take a fourth base relatively fast to ensure they have a monster economy for the late game.

A protoss comes crashing through a zergs sunken/lurker defense

The lurker/spore/sunken defence, coupled with a good wall, can be very difficult for a protoss to crack. Lurkers are adept at shredding zealots which means that the protoss needs to make dragoons, which incidentally suck against everything zerg has except lurkers. Meanwhile, spores will pick off any observer which gets too close, and without detection the protoss will never be able to break through. Lastly, while reavers are theoretically a good counter they are too much of an investment and can leave the protoss vulnerable to a whole host of other things (mutalisks, in particular). It’s become increasingly harder for a protoss who grabs three bases to try and match the zergs economy to keep up with the zerg. For this reason protoss players have begun to favour two base ‘doom pushes’ to simply try and brute force their way through the zergs sim city (or try and do enough damage to expand behind it).

Late game:

Assuming that the ‘doom push’ doesn’t end the game, both sides will try and stabilise their economies and look towards a lategame. Zerg players are usually quite happy to enter the late game on four bases as they get a whole bunch of new tools to use. In particular, they get cracklings, ultralisks (which are really strong, unlike SC2) and defilers. Both plague and dark swarm are good against protoss as plague reduces the protoss HP to near zero (while retaining shields) and dark swarm nullifies the damage from dragoons, cannons and most of the damage from archons. The crackling/defiler combo, in particular, is a particularly cost effective way of dealing with expansions. Protoss will start to create a mostly archon oriented army, as they are the best unit to deal with zerglings and ultralisks. Reavers become a lot more important in the late game as well because they can be useful in defending bases and also deal a ton of damage to ultralisks, which can’t be guaranteed by storm since they can just run out of it.

Protoss vs. Terran

Early Game:

Early game: Compared to SC2, the roles of T and P are somewhat reversed in BW. For the most part, terran plays the role of the defender while protoss is the one to attack. The most common TvP opener is the factory expand or 1rax expand, although the exact timing of the CC can vary. Particularly vs 1rax expand builds, protoss players will try and pressure with ranged dragoons. Ranged dragoons outrange bunkers which forces the terran to keep repairing the bunker to stop the dragoons from waltzing in and killing everything. Dragoon pressure usually ends when tanks come out as sieged tanks vastly outrage dragoons. Behind this dragoon pressure the protoss will prepare an expand and begin working towards his midgame of choice.

Mid Game:

A protoss harasses a terran with a reaver

The terran midgame plan is normally to go up to three bases and aim to push out with a 1-0 or 2-1 upgraded mech ball. Normally these tend to line up to 100 supply and 150~170 supply pushes. The protoss, on the other hand, will try to disrupt this plan as much as possible. The first way this is achieved is using reaver drops, which serve the dual purpose of harass and defence against weird timing pushes. Other times they will try for dark templar drops as they can slow the terran down a ton if they are delaying scan, just like they can be in SC2. Aggressive ‘bulldog’ type strategies off of 2-3 base design to exploit the weakness of the terran as he takes his third base are also common. And the other common way of approaching the midgame is to simply take a third base and try to tech up quickly, adding arbiters and/or storm to your army.

There is a relatively simple way to see who is ahead in a TvP – if the protoss is 20 supply ahead then the game is even, if the protoss has more than this supply he is ahead and if he has less he is behind. Of course this isn’t a definitive guide, but it is a very good indicator in general. Storm and arbiters are a way for the protoss to fight cost efficiently vs a terran by rapidly eliminating supply from the battle (either by destroying it or freezing it). When protoss add these tech units it becomes important for the terran to get science vessels so that they can EMP and prevent the protoss from being as cost effective.

Late Game:

Recall is a powerful late game spell

If the game gets to a 200/200 situation then usually the protoss will try and avoid engaging the terran if possible. Yes, arbiters and storm can somewhat level the playing field in a straight up fight, but there is always the risk of the engagement going wrong (for instance, arbiter being EMPd). Protoss would rather use recall to recall into the terran’s main and kill his production facilities and force the terran to move his army out of position. This increases the protoss’s chance of winning the game in comparison to a straight up fight. Recall isn’t exclusively limited to the late game either, sometimes it is used a method to stall very late pushes from the terran. On the terran side of the coin, he knows that he has the superior army and relies on EMP to shut down recalls, stasis and storms so that he can win the maxed fight and then kill off the protoss base by base as he struggles to rebuild. Both sides will often produce a lot of production facilities at this point so that they are able to rebuild their forces as quickly as possible. Worker sacrifices to make room for supply are also common.

Protoss vs. Protoss

Early Game:

Unlike PvP in SC2, PvP in BW is a well respected matchup where reavers make things go boom. The very early game can have cute things like manner pylons (pylons placed in the mineral line to trap probes/delay mining) but the most important part of this phase of the game is finding a balance between units and tech. For instance, a player going for very quick robotics tech will be vulnerable to various dragoon contains which usually results in the dragoon player gaining a vast economic edge. However, the dragoon player which delays robotics tech in favour of getting this contain off will be susceptible to dark templars (which don’t require a separate building, mind you). And of course the player who goes for quick robotics will be able to hold off any dark templar rushes without much difficulty.

Except in cases where one side simply forgoes getting observers and dies out right to dark templar, these ‘counters’ I listed above are only soft counters. Good play will always be able to overcome any small deficit. For instance, DT players will often follow up their rush by using dark templars to assert map control if their opponent has observers and expanding behind this. Normally this is enough to compensate for the lack of damage done by DTs. Or if a robotics player gets contained then good reaver harass can often kill enough probes to bring the game back to being even. It is normal for a PvP to enter the midgame with one player having a slight edge because of the early game, but we will soon see that this advantage isn’t always game ending.

A dragoon/reaver push punishes a greedy expand

Mid Game:

There are two key facets of mid game pvp; the dragoon/reaver war and the transition into storm/archon/zealot. Normally both sides will start to mass dragoons and reavers after the early game. This is because the early game usually sets the players up for this tech path, except when the player goes for DTs – more on this later. The advantage in dragoon/reaver wars is primarily dictated by who has more reavers and secondly by who is able to control their units better. Reavers are exceptionally powerful units so having an extra reaver is a massive advantage over your opponent as it allows a significant increase in damage output. However once you get to 4 reavers adding more doesn’t really help as the AI usually causes them to waste scarabs on the same target. This limitation on the damage output of reavers is one reason that eventually players look to transition out of this composition. The micro component of these wars involves two things – targeting reavers with dragoons to quickly eliminate them, and microing your reavers so that they don’t die while causing maximum damage output (i.e. targeting clumps of dragoons). Reavers should never be able to kill other reavers because of shuttle micro, however, this sometimes happens and this can quickly swing the advantage to the other player.

Sometimes DT players will rush to storm/zealot/archon because they have the tech available to them immediately, and this is acceptable. Although players doing this need to be very careful about their zealots as reavers are very good at clearing large number of them. Normally players will try to transition out of dragoon/reaver around the time they get their fourth reaver. This gets the maximum benefit from reavers before adding on more splash damage via storm. In the vast majority of non-dt pvps though, the game will be decided by the dragoon/reaver war. However when the game is more or less even, both sides will transition to templars.

Late Game:

Archons, zealots and templar do battle in the late game

Late game; In a nutshell, late game PvP can be summed up in the following way: dragoons < storm < archons < dragoons. Players will try and tweak their late game armies in accordance with the above chain to counter the opponent while adding in zealots wherever they can. Super late game scenarios can involve dark archons (for feedback) and arbiters (for cloak and stasis) but these are very rare.

Terran vs. Zerg

Early Game:

The bread and butter zerg plan coming into this matchup is to grab a quick expansion, go up to 3 hatches and prepare for mutalisks. Meanwhile the terran will normally go for a one rax expand and prepare to deflect the mutalisks that the zerg is building. Occasionally terrans will try and put some pressure on the zerg right around the time lair finishes up with marines, medics and firebats with tanks rallied. This kind of pressure build usually requires lair tech to kill and so the zerg will stall for time with sunkens and lings while mutalisks are being prepared (or sometimes, lurkers). Regardless of the style that the terran employs, usually the game is able to get to a stable midgame.

A terran player catches a zerg unprepared

Mid Game:

Mutalisk control in BW has been perfected to an art form. By grouping mutalisks with a unit far away (like an overlord) mutalisks stack significantly better. Using this fact, groups of up to 11 mutalisks move as if they were one and are able to harass extremely effectively. This fact is central to the standard zerg mindset – defend with as little as possible while getting 3 bases and defilers. Using this group of mutalisks the zerg will keep the terran contained as if the terran moves out, he will lose a ton of SCVs and the mutalisks can still get home and defend any attacks due to their mobility. The situation isn’t entirely grim for terrans, once terrans are able to get out science vessels it makes mutalisks harassment extremely difficult (casting irradiate on a mutalisk causes splash to nearby mutalisks as well, thus when clumped irradiate can decimate mutalisks) while turrets and marines are often sufficient to stop any major damage.

Once the mutalisk phase has passed, or if they are skipped entirely (which sometimes happens) the game usually becomes a race for the zerg to get defilers before the terran can kill them. An important part of this is securing a third base. This is usually done by taking a main as far away from the terran as possible, which the idea that if the terran attacks the third the zerg can counter the terrans main. The terran will usually push out with a few tanks, a few science vessels and a few squads of marine/medic with an aim to primarily establish map control, but if they can kill a third or kill the zerg outright before hive tech then they will do that. By establishing map control terrans are able to transition out of bionic play and into mech play. More on this in the late game.

Late Game:

Hydralisks battle a late game mech army

Once defilers are out zerg is finally able to regain some map control and take their fourth. This is because defilers are able to cast a spell called dark swarm which blocks all incoming projectiles (like PDD from SC2). This, together with the fact that defilers can consume units for energy make them a very important unit. A mech army is far better suited to dealing with dark swarm than a bionic army, as mines and tanks cause splash damage which go through dark swarm. Mines also prevent the zerg from blindly massing ultralisks, rather they need to start making hydralisks. Late game battles thus are often between mech and lings, hydra, defiler (for plague) and ultralisks.

Terran vs. Terran

Early Game:

Due to the immense power of tanks while in siege mode which makes attacking cost-inefficient most of the time, TvT is the matchup where comebacks happen the most. It isn’t uncommon to see the map split in half with walls of tanks sitting just outside of range of each other.

Early Game:

The primary objective of the early game in TvT is to not die. This may sound kind of silly, but usually any minor deficit can be overcome later. So no matter how much damage you opponent is able to do, if you are still alive there is still a chance that you can come back. A consequence of this is that in TvT giving up can take awhile. Anyway, the basic idea behind early game TvT is to expand reasonably quickly and start making tanks while scouting with you barracks (floated, obviously). Because of the tendency to go for tanks first, some players will try to get very quick wraiths to pick off tanks and SCVs before goliaths come out. Regardless, both players will look to stabilise and begin expanding and zoning out areas of the map.

Quick vultures catch this terran by surprise

Mid Game:

Once in the mid game the real chess game can begin. I couldn’t do the strategy involved in this part of the game justice if I had 6000 words, so I will outline some of the basic manoeuvres that players try to use during this phase. Firstly, as I alluded to earlier, the player with the advantage will usually create a contain on the other player which eventually evolves into both players creating walls of tanks, turrets, mines and goliaths which can stretch across the map. To draw an analogy to chess, this is similar to the pawn formation on the board in that it dictates how much space each player has on the map and in turn the number of safe expansions available to each player. The next tactic you will often see is one player trying to break the opponent’s tank wall. This is done by concentrating the available army and sacrificing some units to draw tank fire while your siege tanks get into position and (hopefully) clear out the opponent’s forces. Usually SCVs are used to draw fire but sometimes vultures are used as well. While breaking a tank wall can be inefficient, sometimes giving yourself the extra space is necessary (i.e. to expand).

A more efficient way of breaking tank walls is by making a lot of dropships and dropping on top of the tank wall while advancing with other forces. This is actually a really powerful way of killing tank walls and can often discourage the creation of a wall all together, but requires the investment into 10 or so dropships. This is no small investment as the amount of gas required for 10 dropships is the same for 10 tanks. The last technique also requires a large amount of dropships, and that is a doom drop in your opponents main. This triggers one of two things – either a full scale retreat (resetting the tank wall) or a base trade. Because base trades can be prompted, usually you don’t see players who are ahead going for large scale doom drops, rather they will use dropships to break tank walls. So this technique is generally employed by players who are behind and looking to catch up.

A terran goes for a mass drop in his opponents main

Late game:

Late game TvT will typically look to the sky, in the sense that at least one player will look to mass air units. Usually players will mass either battle cruisers or wraiths, usually depending on style or what is hot in the current metagame (my opinion is that wraiths are in at the moment). The transition from tanks to air can be somewhat tricky, as outright wasting your tanks is a stupid idea. So gradually terrans will trade off portions of their tank forces through drops and whatnot and replace them with their air unit of choice. Air battles in BW TvT are of comparable levels of excitement to air battles in SC2 TvT, so hopefully you get to see a few before the season ends! Players don’t have to go air to respond to air though. Sometimes you will see terrans focus on producing goliaths to counter whatever air unit is being made. This can work but is usually done as a reaction to seeing air, rather than a preplanned transition out of the midgame.

Zerg vs. Zerg

The basic mentality behind ZvZ is “the winner of a ZvZ is the person who can build the most mutalisks without dying to zerglings”. Of course this is a rather bleak interpretation of the matchup, but it somewhat motivates why things are done the way they are in ZvZ. The matchup is best dealt with by considering whether the builds chosen are the same or different.

Builds are Different:

Conventional wisdom will tell you that in the early game, 9pool < 12pool < 12 hatch < 9pool. This is because traditionally it is thought that the economic advantage will eventually lead to victory, except when you are too greedy as in the case of 9pool beating the 12 hatch. But thanks to Jaedong, this is not as correct as it once was. Jaedong showed the correct way to play when you’re on the wrong side of the chain is to exert as much pressure as possible using speedlings while teching as fast as you can to mutalisks.

For instance when playing a 12pool against a 12hatch you will look to force the 12hatch player into defending using speedlings to keep him occupied, not allowing his economic advantage to kick in. Eventually you’ll get mutalisks, and that will force him to make spores – further slowing them down – and this will give you the time needed to expand yourself and catch up. While the opponent is by no means necessarily behind now, you have reduced the significance of any advantage dictated by the choice of builds. Basically, if you are on the wrong side of the build order chain then the onus is on you to make something happen through exploiting whatever advantage you have.

A one base zerg overwhelms a two base zerg with zerglings

Builds are the Same:

When both players go for the same build the comment made in the introduction is as true as it can get. This can be quite tricky to play as there is the temptation to cut corners by squeezing out an extra drone or two, but if the opponent masses a lot of zerglings then those extra drones could end up costing you the game. Thus having an accurate read on what is going on in the game is super important in ZvZ, else it becomes a luckfest like ZvZ in SC2. Hence the person who has their overlord reach his opponent first will have an advantage. The overlord will allow them to cut corners while the other player plays blind. Both players will eventually end up teching to mutalisks which leads to the most fascinating aspect of ZvZ, in my opinion.

Mutalisk wars are a balance of scourges, zerglings and mutalisks. Zerglings obviously can’t attack up, but they can be really useful in backstabs to gain an economic edge hence why they are important. However the real focus of the mutalisk war is the relationship between mutalisks and scourges. Mutalisk control has evolved to the point where mutalisks are good enough to beat small groups of scourges without taking a hit. This might suggest that scourges are useless, however they serve an important role in the micro war. Scourges force the opponent to micro against them, else face terrible damage, and while they micro against your scourges you can get a lot of free hits in on their mutalisks. For this reason you’ll usually see 4-6 scourges tagged along with any mutalisk flock to force this micro reaction.

A typical mutalisk fight in the mid game

Hive Tech:

Seeing hive tech in a ZvZ is rare as it’s really easy for a small advantage early on to snowball into a game winning scenario midgame. Or, one player will miscontrol their units and the game will be over in an instant. Like PvP in SC2, once you get behind, it’s a hard task to come back. Thus hive tech ZvZ is hugely unexplored and almost anything goes. The reason hive tech ZvZ isn’t a continuation of the mass mutalisk war is because queens and defilers can effectively reduce the usefulness of mutalisks to near zero by sapping their HP or making them vulnerable through slowing them. It’s very unlikely you’ll see a scenario like this, but if it does happen then make sure to appreciate it!

Continue:
P v Z
P v T
P v P
T v Z
T v T
Z v Z

This section is specifically devoted towards outlining the basic ideas underpinning each matchup in Starcraft II. Assuming you roughly know what the units do, the following section should help to bring you up to speed with the current metagame for each matchup. Admittedly, this isn't a comprehensive guide to understanding each of the matchups and speaks in massive generalities and so I'm sure some Starcraft 2 experts will try and pull me up on one or two things. But this guide isn't about giving you a 100% complete and detailed picture of what is going on. This guide is aimed at giving you enough information so that you can watch a game of Starcraft 2 and have an understanding of what each side is trying to achieve at each point in the game.

Please select one of the matchups below to begin learning about the basics of Starcraft 2.

P v Z
P v T
P v P
T v Z
T v T
Z v Z

Protoss vs. Zerg

Early Game

Much like PvZ in BW, the early game consists of both sides taking quick expansions (forge FE/14 pool expansion) and trying to size up what the other guy is doing. Starcraft 2 has evolved to a point where early game aggression usually isn’t seen, for the same reason that 2 hatch hydra busts aren’t common – once scouted, it is very easily stopped. Zergs will use their initial zerglings to spot for scouting probes or zealots in an effort to deny scouting, and usually they will sacrifice an overlord between 6-8 minutes to check on what the protoss is doing. Primarily, the protoss is concerned with finding out whether the zerg is going for a fast third base or some two base build; this will tell him whether he needs to be aggressive or defensive respectively in the mid game.

Mid Game

A somewhat typical protoss push pressuring the zerg

The typical mid game scenario will have the zerg on three bases droning up with an aim to make a maxed roach push around 12mins and the protoss trying to execute a timing attack to prevent this from happening. Zergs will try and gauge what attack the protoss is doing in order to have enough roaches to defend in time. The Protoss usually executes one of two types of timing attacks: a gateway timing attack or a robotics timing attack. Gateway timings rely on catching the zerg player unprepared and getting a proxy pylon to warp in units to overwhelm the zerg. These, however, are becoming less popular now that a 7:30 roach warren is more or less standard. Robotics timings are very popular at the moment because they haven’t been fully worked out yet. They will involve the protoss getting a lot of sentries (12ish) and 3-4 immortals, then pushing out with 7-8 warpgates as a warp prism completes from the robotics. The sheer number of forcefields makes this push very difficult to deal with. Zergs usually try to slow this push down by forcing smaller engagements which, in turn, make the Protoss waste energy before the big battle.

Occasionally protoss will try fast thirds or stargate play. Fast thirds can work on certain maps, like Antiga Shipyard or Cloud Kingdom, and rely on a lot of accurate forcefields to cut the maxed roach push into smaller chunks so they can be defeated piece by piece. Maps with open thirds, like Ohana, are not suitable for such a build because it is difficult to use forcefields to do this. Stargate play will focus on slowing the Zerg down so that a safe third base can be taken. This is achieved by killing overlords and queens and forcing spore crawlers – thereby reducing the drone count and slowing the zerg down. Zergs will usually try and defend this only with spore crawlers and queens; this is because hydralisks are very slow and vulnerable to colossus and thus are not worth the investment. Hydralisks generally only see use when the protoss invests heavily in stargate units.

Late Game

A protoss player casting vortex to try and eliminate a bunch of broodlords

If the zerg survives the protoss pressure and the protoss holds the maxed roach push, then the game will often go to a late game scenario. The zerg will look to secure a 4th and 5th base while teching to infestors and broodlords. The infestor/broodlord combo is considered to be one of the strongest in the game. This is because infestors and broodlords both heavily restrict the movement of the protoss by using fungal growth and having the broodlings get in the way. Protoss late game armies will usually comprise stalkers, colossus, high templar, archons, and a mothership. The mothership is the most important unit in this composition as it gives an effective means to deal with the infestor/brood combination. By casting vortex on the broodlords and then sending in 4-5 archons, the entire broodlord force can be decimated in seconds. Often late game scenarios will come down to whether or not the protoss can utilize vortex well. Zergs will split their broodlords and try and neural parasite the mothership to counteract this.

Protoss vs. Terran

Early Game:

In comparison to BW PvT the roles that P and T play are reversed in SC2. It’s the terran who dictates the flow of the game and the protoss who has the stronger maxed army. The early game is essentially the protoss trying to expand as fast as he possibly can without dying. The terran player's build dictates when the protoss can expand safely. For instance, a 1 rax no gas expand build means that the protoss can safely expand upon scouting it (usually around 18-20 psi). However if the protoss is unable to scout this because the Terran walls off, then he will usually try and do a 1 gate expansion, putting down the nexus at around 27 psi. This isn’t completely safe, but in the current metagame terran doesn’t usually do crazy marauder/marine timing pushes off of one base anymore. The only cheese a terran will do, normally, is what we call a 1-1-1 build. This is when the terran makes a barracks, factory and starport with an aim to do a banshee, tank, marine timing push which hits between 9-11 minutes depending on the build.

Mid Game:

Once both sides have established an expansion the game really begins. The first thing you should be keeping an eye on is the upgrades. These pay a very important role in the matchup and often if one player is 1-1 upgrades ahead of his opponent he will be able to take decisive victories in battles that would otherwise have been a loss. The terran will try and limit the protoss economy by keeping the protoss tied up with drops or by making a lot of units and having strong map presence, preventing the protoss from taking a third. This is kind of like how a protoss will try and keep a terran on two bases in BW PvT using a lot of units.

A terran pressuring the protoss with a medivac push

The midgame is where protoss will focus on getting either colossus or templar. It is necessary for a protoss to do this because if the terran has four or more medivacs it becomes very difficult to beat the terran without some form of splash damage (or a significant upgrade advantage). If the terran scouts colossus this will prompt him to begin making vikings to counter them while templar tech will prompt the terran to make ghosts. The timing of the third base varies greatly on the game and is dependent on how active each side is being on the map; it isn’t uncommon for two base wars to last well into the 15-16 minute mark of the game.

Late Game:

Late game PvT can often end up looking like this

Typically the protoss will stop making colossus/templar after a while (usually after 3 colossus or after taking a third base with templar) and switch towards the other tech path. This change catches a lot ofterrans off guard and often they do not have the right composition to deal with the protoss units. This kind of bait and switch tactic is a large factor in protoss having a ‘strong lategame’, with the jury still out on whether this is actually imbalanced or not. As you might have guessed from that last section, terran has to be acutely aware of the ratio of colossus to templar that the protoss has and prepare an appropriate ratio of vikings to ghosts.

Protoss vs Protoss

PvP is unlike anything you would have seen in BW, and despite its stigma from the early days of SC2, it probably isn’t the worst matchup in SC2 at the moment. With that said, it’s impossible to break into early, mid and late game because it’s rather misleading. Rather its best broken into how many bases you currently have.

Before Expansion:

Small stalker skirmishes like this are very common in the early game

When PvP is still on one base the game is all about establishing some kind of tech without dying to warpgate attacks. Two tech paths are normal in the matchup; robotics and blink. Robotics builds will rely on the heavy fire from immortals to defend from any attacks, while a blink player will be trying to poke holes in the opponents defences and pick off stray units with an aim to keep the player contained so they can never expand. Both play styles are valid and players will choose one based off of their stylistic preference. Usually if a player takes an expansion without sufficient tech the opponent will be able to make a timing attack and force a win using their superior unit numbers and tech. This means that, depending on the map, it’s normal to see an expansion after 9 minutes and not earlier. There is usually a lot of mind games that go on in this phase of the game. If you are mindful of this then over time you will start seeing the subtleties in the matchup.

With an Expansion:

Okay, so both players have an expansion, now what? The basic goal from here on out is to make as many colossus as possible and maybe take a third if the game allows for it. In transitioning into colossus there is a small timing window between 0-2 colossus where a zealot/archon army is the stronger force, and some players will try and make a timing attack at this point. Typically, if the colossus player can get a third colossus out his army will become superior. For this reason we usually only see zealot/archon pushes after one player has fallen behind and is trying to do something to catch up. Once both sides begin making colossus the game essentially becomes a numbers game about who has more colossus and better positioning in any fights. Its common for the game to become quite passive around this point.

Two midgame armies collide

With Multiple Bases

If by some miracle the game extends to more than two base, the game becomes a question of ‘what units complement my colossus the best?’. The answer is archons and a mothership. As before, the game is often quite passive at this point as neither player wants to engage unless they are sure that they have the superior army.

Terran vs. Zerg

Early Game:

TvZ is one of the most entertaining matchups in Starcraft 2, however due to a recent patch which fundamentally changed the early game, it’s difficult to tell what is ‘normal’ anymore. With that said, normally the early game has the zerg trying to figure out what the terran is up to – if he is being really aggressive then the zerg will need sharp defence, and if he is being very greedy with a 3CC off of one rax build then the zerg can either all in or take an expansion himself. Terrans will probably be trying a whole bunch of builds out trying to feel out what works and what doesn’t, but expect them to focus mostly on 1rax CC builds with a very fast third CC (for mules) rather than any funny business off of 1 base.

Mid Game:

The midgame is a lot more stable than the early game at the moment. Once both sides have an expansion (or two) the Zerg will decide which tech path they wish to choose. Normally they will either go muta/ling/bane or infestor/ling/roach. Mutalisk play, however, is becoming less and less common because of how powerful marines and turrets are and how good terran is becoming at shutting down mutalisks harass. Terran on the other hand will primarily go for a marine/tank/medivac composition, and will often use heavy drop play if the zerg doesn’t get mutalisks.

A zerg player pressuring a terran who has just taken his third on Ohana

Players will exchange multiple blows throughout the game. These are primarily dictated by when players take expansions, as taking an expansion leaves a small timing window for the other player to attack. Also, losing one army doesn’t necessarily end the game like it sometimes can in the other matchups. This is because there are (comparatively) more ways to outplay your opponent in this matchup at this point in SC2's development. During battles you should be watching to see if the terran is able to focus fire his tanks on banelings well, as well as whether his marine splits are good or not. You should also be watching to see how well the zerg flanks the Terran army and whether or not he can catch groups of units with fungal. Drops are also an important part of the matchup, and poor reactions to drop play (such as funneling units to their doom) can often be game ending.

Late Game:

A zerg player catches a terran off guard in the late game

Zerg players will be very happy to reach the late game as both the broodlord and ultralisk are quite useful units. While the ultralisk is often stigmatised as being a game losing unit, with infestor/ling play they can be very useful as a stepping stone between a mid-game army and broodlords. This is because they are able to tank a whole lot of damage, meaning that 170+ supply terran isn’t so scary. This gives the zerg player time to get broodlords, which can be quite difficult to deal with because broodlings keep getting in the way. Terrans haven’t quite figured out how they should approach the late game yet. Some terrans will try to add thors into their army to beef up their army’s durability and have something to shoot at broodlords from a distance. Others will try to anticipate a broodlord switch and make vikings (despite the risk of being chain fungal’d to death) and some more experimental terrans are trying to mass ravens like you would science vessels in SK terran. So at this point, terran late game is heavily influenced by style and you really could see anything!

Terran vs. Terran

Early game:

The general early game plan is to grab an expansion very quickly (usually off of 1rax) and then set yourself up with whatever tech you require for the midgame. Given this norm, sometimes people will try to exploit this and the most common way to do this is through a cloaked banshee opening, some kind of hellion drop or a quick siege tank contain. Regardless of the choice of opening, its fairly normal for both players to stabilise and head to a relatively even midgame.

Mid game:

The standard TvT composition is marine/tank as it offers the best of both worlds. The marine/medivac part of the composition allows for mobility and drop potential whereas the raw power of siege tanks and ability to zone out areas provide the real meat to the army. In marine/tank vs marine/tank scenarios the first important number to look at is who has more siege tanks. That player will tend to have the greater power behind their push, and this can often lead to a win. The number of marines isn’t so important past a certain point, as the splash damage from a lot of siege tanks can very quickly reduce their numbers. The next most important number is whether one side has an upgrade advantage. This is fairly important for when marines fight each other, as units with high dps (like marines, hydras, zerglings and so on) are affected more by upgrades than most other units. Thus a 1-1 upgrade advantage to one side will often tip marine fights toward the side with better upgrades. Without marines, there is nothing to absorb the tank fire, making tanks vulnerable.

Well controlled marines dealing with sieged tanks

There are, of course, alternatives to marine/tank. Mech terran is the most popular alternative to marine/tank. In a mech vs marine/tank scenario a good marine/tank player will use his extra mobility to keep the mech player tied down to his base and shut down expansions. A mech player, on the other hand, will have the superior army in terms of strength and will try to use this fact to his advantage by forcing engagements and occasionally harassing with hellions. Some player feel that the mobility of marine/tank isn’t good enough to defeat mech, and instead turn to a marine/marauder composition. This offers greater mobility and abuses the fact that marauders are particularly good at soaking damage from hellions while dealing damage to tanks. As a result, mech players have to be far more careful not to be caught unsieged when facing a bio player. Bio play is never seen against marine/tank as marauders are terrible vs marines.

A marine/tank army clashes with a mech army

Late game:

Normally TvT doesn’t progress much from the midgame strategies. Occasionally, however, some terran players will incorporate banshees, vikings and/or battlecruisers into their late game composition. Banshees are particularly useful in sniping off tanks while vikings are often used for giving tanks range. Battlecruisers are somewhat the ultimate air to ground weapon, but are rather weak vs air and hence require significant viking support otherwise are vulnerable to mass viking. Sometimes this leads to crazy viking vs viking wars with raven support, and occasionally hunter seeker missiles blowing up huge chunks of vikings.

Zerg vs. Zerg

Early Game:

ZvZ has recently been promoted to ‘worst matchup in sc2’ because of the extreme volatility in the early game (sound familiar?). The three most common builds are 10pool speed, 14pool and hatch first. These play out very similarly to the relationship between 9pool speed, 12pool, and hatch first in SC1 with one exception: you’re not rushing towards Mutas. Even 10pool speed builds will usually try to expand after harassing with lings, rather than rush for tech. With ling pressure being so prominent in the early game, the tech of choice is usually banelings, thus resulting in zergling/baneling wars. These have been described like ‘drunken knife fights’ because one baneling will kill any zerglings in its splash radius upon death. Thus players will try to kill banelings by having one, and exactly one, zergling kill the baneling with no other zerglings around, thus minimising the damage a baneling can do. The micro dynamic in zergling/baneling wars is therefore interesting to watch, but incredibly difficult and stressful to play.

Banelings and the micro focused around them dominate the early phase of play

Mid game:

Assuming neither player dies to a zergling/baneling attack, players will usually opt for roach once they start to tech to lair. Roaches usually aren’t seen earlier because they lack mobility before the speed upgrade, which is only available at lair, meaning a skilful zergling player can pick a roach player apart if he is trying to defend two bases. Once the game progresses into roach play, it never ever leaves it. Both sides will start massing up ridiculous numbers of roaches and missing a single larvae inject could mean your roach army becomes inferior. Thirds are not such a pressing issue; since overlords are usually in key positions around the map, thirds are scouted very quickly. This means players have the choice to expand themselves or to pressure then expand. Normally both options are viable.

The other important midgame question is ‘what unit is going to complement my roaches?’. The choice is between hydralisks and infestors. Hydralisks offer a significant DPS increase and the high HP of the roach allows them to stay alive for a long time. Infestors, on the other hand, give you the ability to freeze groups of roaches in place, screwing up the opponents roach arc and allowing you to whittle down their army slowly. Usually infestors are preferred as Zergs feel that infestors don’t decrease their roach count by very much (as they are high in gas, low in minerals, the opposite of the roach) and that fungals offer more versatility than hydralisks. Incidentally, if one player goes mutalisks, either infestors or hydras accompanied by spores and queens are usually an ample defence.

A hydra/roach army does battle with a roach/infestor army

Late game:

Ultralisks are the unit of choice in a late game ZvZ. This is because they deal bonus damage to roaches and are immune to the stun effect of fungal growth. Broodlords, on the other hand, tend to clump up and become prime targets for chain fungals and infested terrans. Thus lategame armies will typically look like ultra/roach/infestor and sometimes with hydralisks. With this said, usually the game will end after midgame as usually after a maxed roach/infestor or roach/hydralisk push one player will be able to cruise to victory.

Continue:
P v Z
P v T
P v P
T v Z
T v T
Z v Z

We realise that are a lot of new people interested in proleauge now and a lot of them don't have the knowledge of the scene that the SPL veterans have. Knowing this we set out to create accessible content for both parts of the community. If you are familiar with the BW scene then please select the BW option below where you will receive the comprehensive team analysis you have come to expect from SPL coverage. If you aren't familiar with BW, then please select SC2. This will give you a good idea about each team and their histories as well as who the major players are.

Looking Forward
by Kiett

As we enter into the second season of the SK Planet Proleague, we find that the task of gauging and predicting team performance in BW has become extremely difficult. Although the offseason has been relatively short, so much has changed during the last month that what each team showed in their last match of the season will not directly correlate, if there is correlation at all, to their abilities in the opening games. Factors such as participation in the OSL, and how much each team has revealed they will concentrate on SC2, will cause performances to vary and deviate wildly from what we would predict.

SK Telecom T1

There is little one can say about the Season 1 champions that hasn’t already been said. With a fearsome lineup of 3 powerhouses and a well-rounded supporting cast, T1 dominated Proleague, finishing the regular season in first place with thirteen wins, eight losses, and an overwhelming differential of +18 games. Surprisingly, however, it was not the perennial Proleague workhorse, Bisu, who held the lead as the team's top player, but Fantasy, who held the second best record in the league with a remarkable 13 wins and 2 losses. Fantasy's prowess in all three matchups was proven constantly throughout the season, culminating in a hard fought victory in the finals, against his overshadowing rival Flash.

Relatively speaking, Bisu had a rather lacklustre season. While a 11-7 record is nothing to scoff at, it still fell short of his usual standards. PvP, particularly on Outlier, served Bisu most of his losses. However, both Outlier and Chain Reaction, maps that tended to attract only Protoss and Zergs (forcing countless mirror matchups), have been removed from this season's pool, so this might bode well for The Revolutionist. In the post season, Bisu again disappointed by failing to make the OSL, but showed the very next week by winning both his games in the Proleague finals that he had not lost his touch. Expect to see this momentum carry on to the current season.

Best had possibly the strangest season of all; once known for his laughably weak PvZ, BeSt spontaneously morphed into Bisu 2.0 and managed to end the season with the strongest vZ record in the league, his hit-list including every top performing Zerg from Jaedong to Effort, and then Soulkey. As the season wound down however, he began to lose steam, falling to Action in the OSL preliminaries, and then to Hoejja in the PL finals. Since it seems BeSt can only be good at one matchup at a time, it will be interesting to see if he continues his PvZ dominance or revert back to the PvT macro monster of years before.

Beyond the sheer power of FBB, SKT's strength also lies in its overall team depth. Rookie by.Sun, may perform poorly if you just take a look at the numbers, but consistently dispels doubts about him when it matters the most, i.e. in the finals, where he overcame his status as the overwhelming underdog to take out Stats and swing the match back in SKT's favor.

The T1 Zergs, though they are often disregarded or ridiculed, have been crucial to the team's success. SoO went on a 6-0 rampage in R3 of Proleague, helping SKT reach first place, and is now continuing to prove that his OSL seed was not undeserved. Though Coach Park is a pragmatic man and has stated that he will split focus between SC2 and BW in a 6:3 ratio due to the SC2 ace match, he is also not one who would let the best BW talent in the league go to waste. As such, look forward to seeing SKT dominate in both games with ease.

KT Rolster
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It is no coincidence that SKT and KT have battled each other in the Proleague finals for three consecutive years. Season after season KT churns out unbelievable results when it matters the most, whether seeded into the finals with a strong regular season or fighting its way through the playoffs from the bottom.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Flash held the top record in PL, maintaining a monstrous fourteen game streak. He began to falter in the third round and the playoffs, eventually leading to a total of four losses from Protoss players, including the ace match of the finals against Bisu. Throughout the offseason, Flash has admitted to be practicing primarily SC2, and that his BW ability is already suffering for it. As the player with the highest expectations placed on him to dominate in SC2, Flash will have to choose which means more to him, to be the only player in history with 4 OSL wins, or to be the leader heading into a new game.

With Flash potentially compromised it will fall to Stats and the KT zergs to score the necessary wins. Throughout the last season, Stats showed that he was capable of being more than just Flash's sidekick. Meanwhile, the KT Zergs followed the same trend as they had for ages – sheerest mediocrity in the regular season (with Crazy-Hydra as the saving grace that barely allowed for their combined total record to break even at 14-14), invincible beast mode during the playoffs (Hoejja running a perfect six game streak into the finals, despite being the underdog in almost every match).

The vital question to KT's overall capacity is always whether or not the team's Zerg backbone can continue its playoffs rampage into the new season. The OSL has shown glimpses of new weaknesses; both Crazy-Hydra and Hoejja were eliminated in the prelims by far less capable players, while Action still has much to prove in his remaining OSL Ro16 matches.

Samsung Khan
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Khan spent the majority of the season in prime position to make not only the playoffs, but the finals as well. Comprised of the Protoss twin cannons of Stork and Jangbi, supported by highly capable rookies Brave, Turn, Reality, and new Zerg pickups Shine and Roro, Khan stormed its way through Rounds 2 and 3, usurping KT's position at the top to end the regular season in second place.

In spite of that, their performance in the playoffs was dismal, to say the least. In particular, defending OSL champion Jangbi, after a fairly unremarkable season, showed two rather disastrous games against Flash, causing many to question whether or not he would even be in competing condition for the current Starleague. Roro's ZvZ remained a liability, and the Protoss and Terran rookies took turns to disappoint.

The highlight of Khan's gloomy post season, however, was Grape, who, despite a terrible regular season, defeated Crazy-Hydra with a beautifully executed sair/reaver strategy, then rode his momentum into the OSL, where he qualified for his first Ro16. With Brave's retirement, Grape will have to step up to take over the position of third Protoss in line, a position that almost guarantees a plethora of play time, given how a ridiculous 68% of Khan's games involve Protoss.

Other lights at the end of the dark tunnel include Shine, who is playing quite well and carving his mark in the current OSL's all-zerg group, and of course, the Commander himself, who had a fantastic season, going 13-5, which put him as the third best player in the league. Post season, Stork qualified for his 13th consecutive OSL, where he fights for both his 100th Starleague win and a second gold. With so much on the line, Stork will be unlikely to drop his commitment to BW any time soon, and will only need to continue with last season's momentum to spearhead Khan to the top. On the other hand, Jangbi will certainly need to step it up, as his good form is pivotal to the team's success. As Khan is the team with the most members still in the OSL, we can expect that its players might be focusing more on BW than the other teams.

CJ Entus
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Photo credit: dailyesports.com
Having barely scraped into last season's play-offs on set differential, CJ will be hoping for greater consistency from their main players this time out. Leta's trademark late season run was crucial for CJ and, along with Horang2, his contributions against KT in the play-offs were important in saving CJ from being completely dominated. Effort's return from retirement saw him reclaim his place as CJ's main Zerg at the expense of 2010-11 ace Hydra, who struggled outside of ZvZ.

Looking ahead to this season, Effort and Leta are again likely to be the two most important players for CJ. Given the time demands involved in preparing for an entire new game, it may prove difficult for players unfamiliar with certain maps to learn them in time for the start of this season. The changes in the map pool especially favour Leta, having played multiple games last season on all three of the maps that were selected. Effort should be familiar with Sniper Ridge and Ground Zero, having featured regularly on both, and with the changes appearing to be zerg-friendly, we may see him make his debut on Jade as well. Both players are, however, conspicuously missing from the OSL, having been eliminated in the preliminaries.

For Horang2 and Hydra, it's unclear whether their participation in the OSL Round of 16 will help or hinder their Proleague performances. It is possible that the additional practice for their OSL matches could help them maintain their Brood War skill level more effectively than other players who are focusing more heavily on learning SC2. Rush's performances in the OSL so far also may be on the mind of the CJ coaching staff when selecting their line-ups this season, with his value as a TvZ sniper being especially apparent in his ODT wins over Jaedong and Roro.

Woongjin Stars
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Up until the last week, Woongjin Stars was a serious contender in the playoffs run last season. Carried in large part by their rising star player, Neo.G_Soulkey, Stars finished the season with a respectable 11-10 record. Although Soulkey had stepped up to the plate to become the top Zerg in the league, his teammate ZerO was thoroughly underwhelming for most of the season. Fortunately, it appears that ZerO has managed to pick himself up and recover, winning seven of his last nine games. Both players have fought their way into the OSL Ro16, and are in the running for their very first Starleague win. So far, their performances in the OSL have been among the best, which bodes well for their BW prospects in Proleague.

Woongjin's third hard-hitter, Light, suffered from an absolutely debilitating case of Protoss-weakness, barely winning only one out of the nine TvPs he played with a desperate 2-fact against a rookie opponent in the form of Wooki. It may be the case that Light will focus primarily on SC2, as the prospect of getting to use bio in all three matchups could entice him more than his current situation, in which he essentially loses every game with a P in it by default. This seems all the more likely with the recent news that Woongjin has hired Slayers' former Terran coach.

The rest of Stars, in particular its Protosses, have been shaky, with Free going from slaying Bisu to epitomizing the term "dead dragon," and Shy impressing, but also suffering a six-game loss streak. Flying, on the other hand, aside from his one disastrous game against Jaedong, has proved to be an important player, winning all three of the final fifth sets he was sent out on. Though the two Zerg twins of Stars are foreseen to be the biggest threats coming into the season, Woongjin Terrans and Toss will have to display their mettle as well if they want a shot at the playoffs this time around.

STX Soul
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STX showed mixed results last season. At several points throughout the months, they were fully in the running for the playoffs, a feat always impressive from teams without an obvious star player. Even though, realistically, STX is considered a team on the lower end of the team league totem poll, quite often they pulled shocking upsets, and ended the season with a 2-1 record over eventual champions SKT.

Although held up overall by a solid Calm and a breakout Last, STX's most notable aspect this last season has been its blooming rookie sector, through Dear, the Protoss responsible for shutting down Flash's seemingly unstoppable streak, and Mini, whose impressive PvZ catapulted him to his very first OSL Ro16.

The team's biggest letdown was the performance of its Terran Ace Bogus, a rising star who had shown himself to be extremely capable in the 2010-11 season. TvT proved to be Bogus's undoing. Although he has managed to make it into the OSL this time around, it will be his next confrontation with Flash that may give us a glimpse of whether or not he has managed to overcome his weakness. With three members still remaining in the OSL, hopefully BW will not be a forgotten relic among this team.

Team 8
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This is the team that we all had high hopes for. The Dream Team, the team of all-stars. But the dream was crushed, the fans were heartbroken, and situation only got worse with each passing week. Team 8's biggest difficulty was securing the third win, having lost almost all of their matches 2-3. Jaedong had a solid, but uninspiring season, while Baby impressed in the early stages, but began to drop the ball in the new year. The biggest disappointments turned out to be Sea, whose new found weakness to Protoss led to his defeat seven times, and Killer, who had showed such promise, but failed to live up to his potential.

The new season will see a shift in the Team 8 roster, as Killer retires and new pickups Movie and by.hero take his place. Movie's season wasn’t spectacular, to say the least, but with a new environment and team, he may experience a revival. Hero will also be looking to reinvent himself, and his success will be desperately needed, thanks to Killer's departure and a lack of a second main Zerg.

Team 8 captain Jaehoon remarked at Media Day that the team had been practicing SC2 longer than any other team, which no doubt had an effect on the players' BW abilities throughout the season. Not a single Team 8 player made it to the OSL Ro16, despite four of them being seeded into the Dual Tournament. In the end, however, we must remember that Team 8's biggest concern is not to win Proleague, but to find a sponsor. Embracing SC2 is their best shot at financial security, and so it shouldn't be any surprise if Team 8 goes all-in for SC2, so to speak.

Airforce ACE
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Aside from a couple of amazing upsets against KT and Khan, ACE ended up where most people expected them to – the bottom of the ladder. Although the roster was as good as it had been in years, especially with new recruit Kal bolstering the Protoss line, ACE proved to be its own worst enemy. Given the choice between playing Firebathero and Great, 9/10 times, Great would be sent out. He ended the season with a dismal 2-10 record, while FBH spent the majority of his time warming the bench. If ACE wants to have any chance at the playoffs for this season, the lineup choices need to stop being mind-numbingly poor.

That said, ACE has no players in the OSL, due to the coach wanting the team to focus on Proleague. This sounds like a sure-fire sign that the team will focus primarily on SC2, as it has resigned itself to be unable to keep up with the rest of the competition in BW.

An Introduction to Broodwar Progaming
By kjwcj

Brood War progaming teams each have their own unique culture, a product of their origins as a team as well as their history of competition. This culture often has an impact on the type of player they produce, the race of their most successful players or even on the success of their players in specific match-ups. All of the remaining eight teams owe a debt of gratitude to those that have come before them, as although progaming has fallen on hard times in recent years, the conditions and salary available to the current generation of players is a result of the passion and the sacrifice of heroes past. The system that has built up around these teams, along with the same passion which sparked their creation, has created a competition featuring some of the best Starcraft players who have ever lived. To watch them play is a privilege, and there's no better place to do so than Proleague.

SK Telecom T1

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SK Telecom T1 is the most famous and successful team in the history of Korean eSports. Founded in 2002 as Orion, SKT's history is defined by one man, SlayerS`BoxeR. Even today, more than two years after his last televised Brood War match, SKT is Boxer's team. His role in the foundation of SKT and the financial sacrifices he made in order to keep it running in the early years are central to Boxer's legacy. His influence on the growth of professional Starcraft is reflected in the ascent of SKT as a team, from a group of kids in a cramped apartment to a team of professionals in a sleek practice room.

Alongside Boxer in the annals of SKT history stands iloveoov. Beginning his career as Boxer's pupil, oov soon became the Emperor's greatest rival, culminating in an emotionally charged EVER04 OSL final. The depth of understanding which so defined oov's career as a player continued to serve SKT long after his retirement, with his influence as a coach always apparent through the innovations of SKT's new generation. Following in the footsteps of his mentor, oov became central to the discovery and development of talent for SKT in his later career.

One player scouted by oov, and then passed on to Boxer following his switch to SC2, was MMA. Known during his Brood War career as 1988, MMA was drafted by SKT in 2008, hand-picked by oov who was a player-coach at the time. However, MMA made little impact during his time on SKT, failing to appear in a single broadcast game on OGN or MBC. Regardless of his failure as a Brood War progamer, in SC2 MMA's superlative TvZ continues a long tradition of SKT Terrans.

Over the last ten years, SKT has constantly adapted, both to the changing landscape of professional Starcraft in Korea as well as to their own evolving player roster. Although SKT has seen its fair share of superstar players over the years, it has never been a one man team. From the early glories of Boxer to the unprecedented dominance of iloveoov and even in Bisu's record breaking season, no SKT line-up has ever been completely defined by one player.

At the core of the modern SKT roster are three players, (T)

Fantasy,

Bisu and

Best, often referred to as FBB. In the most recent season of Proleague, these three had a combined record of 39-17, collecting more wins between them than all of Airforce ACE combined. Although in the past he has often struggled to find his best form in Proleague, Fantasy emerged last season as SKT's clear ace player, ending it on a high note with a win over old rival and KT ace Flash in the final.

SKT's ability to prepare for the commencement of SC2 Proleague was delayed by their practice for last season's final. However, recent articles in the Korean press seem to imply they were one of the earliest teams to begin considering SC2, even holding a trial day for some potential SC2 recruits. At a recent conference, multiple head coaches stated that SKT was thought to be the team with the best SC2 players at this point in time.

KT Rolster

Photo credit: dailyesports.com

KT Rolster is Brood War's other telecom giant. Originally formed in 1998, KTF (a subsidiary of now-sponsor KT) came on board as a sponsor in 2001 and wasted little time putting their corporate money to work. The spending spree which ensued is one that is unlikely ever to be seen again in eSports (although EG are doing their best). Over the next three years KT went about acquiring some of the best Brood War progamers on the planet. By the things died down in 2004, KT had assembled a dream team featuring the likes of Yellow, Reach and Nal_rA. Although KT's spending had succeeded in delivering a team with a depth of individual quality that Brood War has never seen since, their money failed to deliver them a single major team-league win.

In the modern era, KT's fortunes have been decided by one player- Flash. By the time he won his first OSL in 2008, Flash was firmly established as KT's ace player and KT's seeming reliance on Flash for wins lead to the nickname KTFlash. However, further home-grown talent began to appear to support Flash, with KT's rise culminating in the 09-10 Shinhan Bank Proleague in which KT and Flash were utterly dominant. Since that season, Proleague has been defined by the rivalry that is SKT versus KT, with the most recent four finals involving both teams.

Although no player on the KT line-up can truly claim to be (T)

Flash's equal, an important and talented supporting cast has been built up around him. First is (P)

Stats, who finished last season one win behind Stork and ahead of the likes of Bisu and Best. Stats is best known for the solidity of his play, making him extremely well suited to the rigorous Proleague schedule which leaves little time for specific preparation. Crucial to KT's run through the play-offs of the most recent Proleague season were two Zerg players, (Z)

Action and (Z)

HoeJJa. Although both players have struggled for consistency during past seasons, both Action and Hoejja have the potential to beat almost anyone when at peak form.

Aside from being the home of Flash, KT is probably best known to SC2 fans as being Nestea's former team. Having joined KT very early in its history Nestea had a slightly unusual career as a progamer, taking a long break to do his military service before returning to the team in the mid 2000s. Featuring for KT mainly as a 2v2 player, Nestea's Brood War gameplay was never enough to distinguish him from his more well-known team-mates. He was, however, a respected veteran, serving as KT's captain and then Zerg coach until his move to SC2.

The main story relating to SC2 that has come out of KT, other than Flash's recent interviews and rehabilitation dabbling, is the retirement of a small group of their B-team players in early 2012. At a recent conference KT's Coach Lee mentioned that these players had begun practising SC2 full time in anticipation of KeSPA introducing the new game much sooner and had become disillusioned with the lack of opportunities to play. Also recently departing KT for SC2 is Anyppi, who retired as a Brood War progamer in January of this year to officially join LG-IM, who he was pictured practising with in late 2011.

Samsung KHAN

Photo credit: dailyesports.com

Samsung was one of the earliest of the big corporations to become involved in running a Brood War team, forming Samsung KHAN from scratch in 2000. The most successful period in KHAN's history came after a long period of irrelevance when it won the 2008 Shinhan Bank Proleague, lead by Stork, Jangbi and firebathero. KHAN is also unique in having the only female coach in Korea, January. For some time, January was the only former progamer responsible for running a KeSPA team and her experience competing as a member of KHAN in the early 2000s is thought to have informed her more relaxed style of management.

The presence of multiple individual league finalists (P)

Stork and

JangBi, and recent MSL quarter-finalist (P)

Grape, has lead to KHAN being best known for its Protoss line. However, Jangbi's struggle for consistency in recent seasons has left KHAN heavily reliant on Stork to lead the team and collect wins. The emergence of (T)

TurN and

Reality in recent seasons has given KHAN two decent, if erratic, Terran options in the absence of firebathero who left do his military service with ACE in 2011. Coach January's preference for rotation means that KHAN often has one of the most diverse line-ups in Proleague, occasionally attracting criticism from fans when her picks don't work out.

KHAN's involvement with SC2 so far has been minimal, indeed at a recent conference for team coaches, January suggested that KHAN were currently the worst of any of the KeSPA teams in SC2. Only two former KHAN progamers have become well-known in SC2 to date, FXO's lucky and recent Fnatic recruit ByuL.

CJ Entus

Photo credit: dailyesports.com

CJ Entus, formed in 2001, started out life as team ProSuma and was known in its early years for developing some of the best and most innovative players in the history of Brood War. After a difficult period, during which successful players like Xellos had to use their individual league winnings to help support the team, corporate giant CJ came on board to sponsor the team in 2005 and immediately made it one of the richest in Korea. Also part of the modern CJ team are the remnants of hite SPARKYZ, a team which was merged with CJ after their line-up was devastated by the Match Fixing Scandal.

Historically CJ has been regarded as having one of the deepest line-ups of any team, with an even distribution of strong players across all three races. However, CJ is probably best known for its Zerg line, following in the tradition laid down by the now-disgraced Savior. Although CJ's line-up has always consisted of multiple individual league finalists and winners, its sole team league win in the modern era came in the 2009 Winners League.

The core of the current CJ line-up is an odd pairing of two original CJ Zergs- (Z)

EffOrt and (Z)

Hydra, and two former SPARKYZ players- (T)

Leta and

Horang2. Effort, having returned at the beginning of last season following a brief retirement from progaming, quickly reclaimed his status as CJ's main Zerg. However, both he and MSL winner Hydra have struggled to establish the same level of consistency that they've shown in the past. Unlike the two CJ Zergs, neither Leta nor Horang2 have an individual league win under their belts. However, both have a unique talent for beating other teams' ace players in important games, most recently when Horang2's upset win over Flash launched a CJ comeback against KT.

CJ also happens to be the former team of now SC2 progamer IdrA. Joining in 2008 after beginning his career as a progamer with eSTRO, IdrA was unable to make a real impact on Korean Starcraft but was did use the skill he gained through training with CJ to almost completely dominate the foreign scene in 2009. IdrA began his SC2 career while still a member of CJ and was for a time the only KeSPA progamer publicly active in SC2, however his association with the team ended in late 2010 when he left to join Evil Geniuses.

Recently, CJ's Horang2 was rumoured to have an account with an 80% win-rate in Korean GM league, however no replays have surfaced. Also worth noting is the switch by former rookie of the year Snow from Protoss to Terran. Best known for his harass focused PvT, Snow's career stagnated in 2011 and he may have seen SC2 as an opportunity to resume his in the rankings at CJ. Beyond random whisperings of individual players' prowess, little real information has come from CJ players or coaching staff about their involvement with SC2 so far.

Woongjin Stars

Photo credit: dailyesports.com

Woongjin Stars was founded in 1999 and first rose to prominence under the banner of Hanbit, the Korean distributors for Starcraft. Woongjin started out as home to some of the best players of the early 2000s, including OSL winners GARIMTO, Sync and Reach. However, as Brood War began to grow and other teams were taken on by wealthy corporations, Woongjin found itself struggling to compete with the salaries being offered and began to slip towards mediocrity. Although Woongjin has never been able to match the individual league successes of those early years, its continuation as a solid and understated force in Proleague is a tribute to the willpower of Coach Lee Jae-Kyun, who has lead the team since its foundation more than a decade ago.

After the strength of its original line-up had faded, Woongjin became known as a team that was always able to hold its own without possessing the wealth individual league superstars available to its competitors. Coach Lee's faith in his players, along with well selected line-ups and diligent preparation has lead to a number of thrilling upset victories for Woongjin down the years, the best of them coming from an otherwise unremarkable Protoss player named Guemchi. More recently however, Woongjin has formed a core capable of competing on level footing with the best Proleague has to offer.

The most important component of the current Woongjin roster is their Zerg line-up, which is the strongest of any team in Proleague at this moment in time. Consisting of recent MSL finalist (Z)

ZerO and last season's Zerg win leader (Z)

Neo.G_Soulkey, both of whom are best known for their strong management styles. Alongside the two Zergs is Terran player LighT, formerly of MBC, who has the distinction of being one of the few Terran progamers that can actually claim to be better at something than Flash. Although Light is far from being the best Terran player in Korea, his bio control is regarded by most as being the best of any progamer and has contributed to his almost 80% TvZ win rate over the last two years. In recent seasons young Protoss player (P)

sHy has become increasingly important for Woongjin, slowly replacing former Protoss ace (P)

free.

Although the phrase “Woongjin Terran” was for some time synonymous with “terrible player”, the contribution of former Woongjin Terrans to SC2 is significant. Most prominent among them is reigning GSL champion Mvp. Mvp had some small individual league successes in his Brood War career and is probably the best Terran Woongjin have produced in the modern era. Other former Woongjin Terrans Ganzi and Supernova were both highly thought of when first starting out as progamers, but were never able to break through to the next level and failed to ever qualify for a major individual league.

Most of the information about Woongjin's hopes for SC2 this season have come from player interviews following the early rounds of the TVing OSL. Most recently, Soulkey confirmed that he had an account in Korean GrandMasters but downplayed his own skill level by saying he was fortunate to be placed into the league. Zero also has made reference to the difficulty of learning SC2 but has given no hint as to his own personal skill level.

STX SouL

Photo credit: dailyesports.com

STX SouL was founded in 2000 as SouL (Starcraft of unbelievable Legend) and was one of the last of the KeSPA teams to find a major corporate sponsor, with STX only coming on board in 2006. Early in its history, STX was known for having a strong Zerg line-up which included now SC2 coach and player, TheWind. STX had a few good showings in the early years of OGN and MBC team-leagues but really began to become a factor in Proleague in 2009, lead by MSL winning Zerg Calm and MSL finalist Kal.

Even when at the peak of their strength, STX is often notable for their inconsistency as a team. During their most successful season, 09-10 Shinhan Bank Proleague, STX swung from the sublime to the ridiculous as some of their best players seemingly forgot how to play Starcraft in the season's later rounds. This is a team that had more players than anyone else in the most recent ODT (OSL Ro24) but it is also a team that was all-killed in their own tournament by much-maligned SKT Zerg Hyuk. You never know what you're going to get with STX, but you always know whatever it is will be damn interesting.

STX's main line-up has been going through a period of transition in recent times, with several of their strongest players from last season having been seldom used in the past. In (P)

Dear and

Last, STX possessed probably the two strongest “new” players last season. Alongside the young-bloods is the Brain Zerg, Calm, a player who has been at the heart of the STX line-up for some time. (Z)

Calm is best known for his heavy reliance on strategy and mind-games and in recent times has been relied upon by STX as a ZvP sniper. Rounding out the STX main line-up is (T)

Bogus, who emerged as their ace in 10-11 but struggled to make an impact last season. Bogus appears to be making a return to form recently, evidenced by his strong showing in the OGN Dual Tournament. With each of their best players having their own unique strength in a particular match-up, STX has become a team which can beat anyone on their day, when their selection works out.

STX was the team with which current SC2 progamer July won his Golden Mouse and ended his Brood War career. When he joined STX, July was thought of as being on the fast track to retirement and was on his last limbs as a progamer before doing his military service. However, while a member of STX July made an astounding return to form, winning his third OSL trophy and helping STX rise up the rankings in Proleague. Although July began to fade again in 2009 and eventually moved on to SC2 in late 2010, his contribution to STX during his brief return to power was significant.

During the KeSPA coach conference, STX was referred to alongside SKT as the team which had made the most diligent preparations for SC2, with STX's Coach Lee even stating that their early dabblings with SC2 detracted from their results in last season's Brood War Proleague. At the conference, Coach Lee also stated that STX has multiple grandmasters players on the team but was not specific about which players were currently strongest. STX also features one of the more notable Brood War to SC2 race switches, with Calm switching from Zerg to Terran for his SC2 matches.

Team 8

Photo credit: dailyesports.com

Team 8 was formed by KeSPA in 2011 as an amalgam of three disbanded teams, MBC Game HERO, Hwaseung OZ and WeMade FOX. With the line-up being selected by taking the strongest two players of each race from the available players, Team 8 was expected to be a major force in SK Planet Proleague Season 1. However, many of the former ace players have struggled to adapt to their new surroundings and Team 8 ended last season second last. Having added two new players in the off-season, Team 8 will be hoping for a good showing this season in order to attract a major corporate sponsor.

A newly formed team is something of an oddity in Korean Brood War, with almost every other team being able to trace their roots back to the early 2000s. However, at their head Team 8 has Coach Ju Hoon, a man who was responsible for running SKT during their glory days of Boxer and iloveoov. Coach Ju Hoon is familiar with the level of expectation that comes from having some of the best players in Korea in your line-up, as well as the difficulties of operating a team without sponsorship from a large corporation.

Although Team 8 has quite a deep roster of strong players across all three races, their clear ace is (Z)

Jaedong. Although Jaedong's win record last season was one of the best in the league, his ability to carry Team 8 through Proleague, as he had done for Hwaseung OZ, was not as evident. One of the players who struggled to match his performances prior to the formation of Team 8 is (T)

Sea. Having been expected to be the second strongest player after Jaedong, having served as MBC's ace for several seasons, Sea's TvP proved a massive weakness last season, ending with a 1-7 record in the match-up. Young Terran player (T)

BaBy and Protoss (P)

Jaehoon make up the remainder of Team 8's core. Both Baby and Jaehoon ended last season with decent records but were also unable to truly recreate the form that lead to them being picked as founding members of Team 8.

Following their disappointing debut season, Coach Ju Hoon has made reference to Team 8 focusing heavily on SC2 in the off-season. The addition of SC2 to Proleague may aid Team 8 in finding that all important sponsor but their own comparatively shallow line-up means that if any of their existing A Teamers are unable to adapt to SC2 they may be caught short in the new format. In addition to their strong focus on SC2, Team 8 has on their side the fact that none of their line-up are still competing in the current OSL, allowing them to focus solely on preparing for the beginning of this season.

Airforce ACE

Photo credit: dailyesports.com

Formed in 2007, Airforce ACE was Boxer's last significant contribution to Brood War progaming. The original line-up featured many famous players from the early years of televised Brood War and has seen multiple Starleague winners such as Reach, Yellow and, of course, Boxer himself pass through its ranks. ACE is something of an outsider in Korean Brood War. Although it is technically a professional team, players are not able to fully focus on practice as they're required to perform other normal military duties. As as result of this, ACE is something of a progamer retirement home, with few players ever returning to peak form having completed their time in ACE. Even though they're unlikely to ever threaten for a place in the play-offs ACE are occasionally able to produce exciting series and are well loved by Brood War fans in their role as perennial losers.

In the past, the general trend with ACE line-ups was that the players who had most recently transferred from the normal professional teams would be the best performers. As a player continues on ACE, the reduced practice hours and lack of a real coaching staff generally lead to a slow decline in skill until his service is complete. Last season, new additions (P)

Kal and

great were the two most used members of the ACE line-up. Kal's strength in PvP was still evident as he took out the likes of Best and Stork but his fellow recruit great had a terrible season, finishing with a 2-10 record. Alongside those two is Terran player and former Proleague winner (T)

firebathero. Known for his strong TvZ and extravagant ceremonies, fbh was in and out of the ACE line-up last season but when playing well is still one of the strongest players on the team.

Although in recent years SC2 has become something of an alternative to ACE for progamers who are coming to the end of their career, Boxer is the only former ACE player to have any notable achievements in SC2 so far. ACE's coaching staff have not made any comments about their progress in SC2 so far but their line-up is notable for having the largest number of players switching their race in SC2. The already reduced practice time of the ACE team, combined with the added burden of learning a new game mean that ACE's fortunes are unlikely to improve this season.

Coaching Strategy in the Hybrid League

By: Plexa

The creation of the hybrid proleague is probably the most significant change in the proleague’s format since its inception in 2003. Indeed, this is the greatest strategic challenge that any coaching staff has ever faced – a title previously held by the formation of the joint proleague in 2005.

The creation of the joint proleague completely changed the format of the previous team leagues; MBCGame had focused primarily on a winners’ league type format for their team leagues, while OGN had focused on a best-of-three match between teams, with one of those matches being a 2v2. The joint proleague format was a best-of-five match with sets two and four being 2v2, but it also raised the prominence of team leagues in Korea until, by 2006, it was considered a priority by most teams. For the most part, the successful teams in this new format were the teams who were successful pre-merger, but there was one team in particular which defied the odds through a very effective coaching strategy.

Sigamari was a key component of Khan's approach on the 2005 Proleague

At the end of the 2004 OGN Proleague season, Khan purchased the 2v2 specialist Sigamari (aka Zerglee) from SKT1 for the upcoming joint proleague. Back then, Khan had placed last and second-to-last in the two most recent rounds of the 2004 OGN Proleague. With two sets out of every match in the new joint Proleague being 2v2, team play had suddenly become a large part of the proleague format. If a team could win both 2v2 matches, then it would always be guaranteed at least an ace match. With this in mind, Sigamari and the coaching staff set to work on improving Khan’s teamplay skills. Sigamari’s incredible understanding of how teamplay games work eventually lead to Khan’s rapid rise in the proleague standings. Together with some rising talent, in the form of a young Stork, Khan came from nowhere to place runner up to SKT1 in the second round final of Proleague.

While Khan’s story during the 2005 proleague will most likely be remembered as a blip on the radar, it really deserves far more credit. Much like the revolutionary approach to baseball implemented by Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s, Khan’s strategic decision to focus on teamplays fundamentally changed the way teams approached proleague. Teams began to incorporate 2v2 specialists within their own squads and began to devise one off plays for snipers to pick off good players, which led to a huge increase in the strategy involved within team matches. Of course, 2v2s were removed in 2007 (forcing a bunch of retirements) and Khan did win a season of proleague.... eventually.

The upcoming season will be the greatest test for award winning coaches like Coach Park (pictured)

The switch to the hybrid league represents another fundamental strategic shift in coaching strategy, and once again teams will have the chance to revolutionise the way they prepare for proleague. Having thought about this myself for a while now, I think that the unique ruleset imposed on this league will promote some very interesting strategic plays. Firstly, let’s review the ruleset:
- If a player plays Brood War, he must play Starcraft 2 in the next match
- If the score of either Bo3 is 2-0, the unplayed match still counts towards the requirement above
- Winning either Bo3 will at least force an ace match
- The ace match is played on Starcraft 2

Firstly, the importance of Starcraft 2 in this league is ridiculous. Winning the SC2 Bo3 will force an ace match, also on SC2. Thus, if a team is clearly the best at SC2, then they should win every single match. A team which is awesome at BW, but terrible at SC2, could not win a single match the entire season. Thus every team should be trying to figure out who their ace players are in SC2. With that in mind, the rest of the season should be aimed towards maximising their overall performance in the league.

The next thing I would focus on is training snipers in both SC2 and BW. In particular, these would be players that normally wouldn’t see play time during the season. Why? So I could ensure that my line-ups for strong teams are as strong as they could be by playing these players in less important matches so that my A-line-up will be playing in their best game when the difficult match comes around. For instance, let’s say my next match is against Ace, which isn’t doing so well, and after Ace I have to play KT, which is a really strong team. If Player X’s strong game is SC2, and he is due to play SC2 vs Ace (if he plays), I will choose to not play him so that he will be able to play SC2 against KT. Training these players as snipers maximises their chance of beating their opponent – particularly if their opponents are trying to train both games simultaneously. Of course, these players would only be used once in the entire season.

After an SC2 specialist plays, the rules demand that he must play BW in the next match. This is a rather tricky rule to get around, and I have two approaches. The first one is to play the SC2 specialist as the third player in the Bo3, thus minimising the chance that he actually has to play. If possible, I would align this so that my SC2 specialist is paired with strong BW players against a weak BW team. The other approach is if I have multiple SC2 specialists forced to play BW then I would have my B-teamers prepare one off builds which my specialists will practice as to minimise the need to practice long macro games in BW while maximising their winning potential.

While I believe the above to be the optimal approach towards the team league, there are some mistakes that I can see some teams falling into. The first that comes to mind is if a team plays their BW and SC2 aces simultaneously. Why is this a mistake? Because in the next match your aces will be playing their off-games and, unless you are against a really weak opponent, this will probably lead to a loss. Generally teams should be strong in either BW or SC2, with a goal of getting to the ace match where any player can play (where you either send your best SC2 player or someone who is prepared to snipe their ace).

Flash might be God in Brood War but with his OSL commitments, overplaying him could be a mistake

The other mistake that is likely to happen is to rely on the star power of experienced players and not regularly rotate players throughout the season. This is a mistake because there is a huge amount of potential in using lesser players simply to waste a game for a strategic purpose (as I mentioned earlier). Forcing your A-line-up to play every week (even in their off-games) also shows where those players are weak, meaning a good team will be able to pick up on weaknesses and trends in their play and prepare specific all ins to counter them. Practicing both games will be very difficult, thus cracks will appear in their play and there will be holes for snipers to exploit. This also prompts another reason why playing the weaker players in your roster is a good idea – it gives your strong players more time to prepare, refining their play and reducing the number of cracks that your opponents will see (and possibly counter later on).

This is but a quick analysis of some of the strategies that might be employed in the upcoming season, both those I think will be effective, and those that I think will be ineffective. This season will present a huge challenge to the coaching staff in creating efficient practice regimes as well as effective team league strategies. The rise of Khan in 2005 has already illustrated that coaching strategy can play a huge role in how a team performs, and can take a team from the bottom of the rankings right to the top. I am watching with intense interest to see how the masterminds of proleague like Coach Park of SKT1 approach this season of proleague, as this is the season could tell us whether their ‘genius’ was really genuine, or merely the result of having a big budget for good players.

Photo credit: 1, 2 self explanatory, 3 NATE

This Proleague update was brought to you by Team Liquid's SPL 2012 R1 coverage team - Plexa, HawaiianPig, Pholon, Kiett, SirJolt and kjwcj.

DivinO

United States4796 Posts

May 19 2012 23:23 GMT

My god, that's gorgeous.

]343[

United States10328 Posts

May 19 2012 23:29 GMT

sick scripting~ (though there's no way to close the shown div after it gets shown? oh well)

Antoine

United States7481 Posts

May 20 2012 01:49 GMT

I eagerly await KT domination of the new proleague

Pokebunny

United States10654 Posts

May 20 2012 01:50 GMT

Wow, awesome, it's like mine but twice as good...

HawaiianPig

Canada5155 Posts

May 20 2012 01:50 GMT

SKT dominated the last era, they will dominate the new era

Dynasty anyone?

Iradain

Sweden35 Posts

May 20 2012 01:51 GMT

Insanely hard to predict these matches since none of us has actually seen them play SC2. I'm so eager to see this!

Heyoka

Katowice25012 Posts

May 20 2012 01:52 GMT

Awesome stuff in this post, looking forward to the league :D

BLinD-RawR

ALLEYCAT BLUES49776 Posts

May 20 2012 01:52 GMT

GO KT GO!

Hellwitch

Canada272 Posts

May 20 2012 01:52 GMT

#10

Can't wait for the new Proleague season to start!
Let's go ACE

a9arnn

United States1537 Posts

May 20 2012 01:53 GMT

#11

On May 20 2012 10:51 Iradain wrote:
Insanely hard to predict these matches since none of us has actually seen them play SC2. I'm so eager to see this!

Stars got this season easily, with ZerO and Soulkey, should be easy. Light (similar to MVP and Sair/Supernova) will lead the Woongjin Terran line into SC2 with grace!

Bagration

United States18282 Posts

May 20 2012 01:53 GMT

#12

Very well made article. Great interface

Fionn

United States23455 Posts

May 20 2012 01:54 GMT

#13

I expect the BW and SC2 games to be a train wreck, at least 40 people banned for being idiots, and KT rolling CJ like usual.

Gonna be a good night.

vanTuni

389 Posts

May 20 2012 01:55 GMT

#14

Oh post though arth so beautiful!

edit: just noticed that the hybrid league does not show in the calendar if you only have SC2 switched on (shame on me!). Possible to list it as both categories? Others might miss it, too.

Disengaged

United States6994 Posts

May 20 2012 01:56 GMT

#15

Ew, I hate youtube streams.

CursOr

United States6335 Posts

May 20 2012 01:57 GMT

#16

I'm going to be naive. I've been a fan of both games, they both have strengths and weaknesses. But... I am going to do my best to support both communities and just be as positive as possible about the whole thing. In many respects it's a sad day for many of us older fans- but it's time to man up and reach out to the other scene.

I don't know which kind if guy you're gonna be, but I won't take part in any arguing or negativity. We can all celebrate both games, and try to appreciate them together in this moment. They have been like 2 squabling siblings at times... but now I want to encourage people to do their best to reach out to everyone durring this one of a kind moment in Starcraft history.

Mortal

2943 Posts

May 20 2012 01:58 GMT

#17

Sick interface/layout, absolutely incredible.

OneBaseKing

Afghanistan412 Posts

May 20 2012 01:59 GMT

#18

omg how do i watch it?

Dodgin

Canada39254 Posts

May 20 2012 01:59 GMT

#19

Amazing article well done SPL team.

GreYMisT

United States6736 Posts

May 20 2012 02:00 GMT

#20

Great job, this should really help the SC2 people get into the game that started it all!

Vansetsu

United States1454 Posts

May 20 2012 02:01 GMT

#21

This will be interesting at the very least.

SarcasmMonster

3136 Posts

May 20 2012 02:01 GMT

#22

On May 20 2012 11:00 GreYMisT wrote:
Great job, this should really help the SC2 people get into the game that started it all!

And help BWers with the transition!

The Final Boss

United States1839 Posts

May 20 2012 02:01 GMT

#23

I hope Bogus still plays Terran, but as a Terran in SC2 and an STX fan at heart, I'm super excited to hear that Calm has switched to Terran.

GenesisX

Canada4267 Posts

May 20 2012 02:01 GMT

#24

holy shit can't even wait anymore
also really interesting to see what writers said the norm of SC2 matchups were
either way, PL COME FASTER

Diizzy

United States828 Posts

May 20 2012 02:01 GMT

#25

On May 20 2012 10:59 bbrian wrote:
omg how do i watch it?

http://www.youtube.com/user/ESportsTV for live but only korean commentating.

some restreams of english commentating-

Pokebunny's stream: http://www.own3d.tv/live/276079/Pokebunny
Sayle's stream: http://www.twitch.tv/saylesc

Mr. Wiggles

Canada5894 Posts

May 20 2012 02:02 GMT

#26

This will be interesting. Still reading the match-up analysis. I'm a noob in BW, and haven't paid much attention to SC2 for the last 4 months or so, so this is a good way to catch back up to the meta-game. :p

mtn

729 Posts

May 20 2012 02:02 GMT

#27

Holy shiet that interface <33

Great read as well, havent finished yet though. Just had to post because of the beautiful layout!

Thorine

Canada6 Posts

May 20 2012 02:04 GMT

#28

Unbelievable write up and layout!

SpiZe

Canada3640 Posts

May 20 2012 02:04 GMT

#29

So this is a forum post or some sort of program, I always get confused while reading a TL article like this

Really hyped for this, hope it will be sick

Kryt0s

Germany209 Posts

May 20 2012 02:04 GMT

#30

Awesome article!

DanceSC

United States751 Posts

May 20 2012 02:07 GMT

#31

Omg O_O this is amazing

Deleted User 135096

3624 Posts

May 20 2012 02:08 GMT

#32

holy...... so sick, props to the writers

Random_0

United States1163 Posts

May 20 2012 02:08 GMT

#33

Ahhhh... So excited to watch my favorite players and see how their playstyle translates into SC2.

Immaterial

Canada510 Posts

May 20 2012 02:08 GMT

#34

So excited for this and absolutely awesome preview thread. It'll be interesting to see if BW skill levels have deteriorated since the transition began. I'm thankful that there will still be some BW matches this PL as I was just starting to get really into it : \ wish I had found TL in BW's prime.

I hope the korean fans respond at least somewhat favorably to the SC2 matches that are played. I think the game has progressed a lot since the beginning and hopefully it won't be dismissed by the fans. It will certainly be hard for SC2 to compete with BW in the hearts of the koreans; its ~~probably~~ the best competetive game/esport of all time.

BreaK

Canada890 Posts

May 20 2012 02:08 GMT

#35

I want to give a huge kudos to everyone involved in making this OP. Well done, a brilliant introduction to this new era.

GreYMisT

United States6736 Posts

May 20 2012 02:09 GMT

#36

On May 20 2012 11:04 SpiZe wrote:
So this is a forum post or some sort of program, I always get confused while reading a TL article like this

Really hyped for this, hope it will be sick

Its Wizardry

Theovide

Sweden914 Posts

May 20 2012 02:11 GMT

#37

Sexy post :D. Damn I'm excited, but I have to go to sleep now, I hope there will be twitch vods :D-

MCXD

Australia2738 Posts

May 20 2012 02:11 GMT

#38

Absolutely superb article. This is coming from a SC2 player.

I'm going to give this a good read as the teams and match-ups occur in the event.

Nazza

Australia1654 Posts

May 20 2012 02:11 GMT

#39

Amazing job guys.

chambertin

United States1704 Posts

May 20 2012 02:12 GMT

#40

I don't understand my eyes...

Spaceless, timeless, such loveliness... this post. I cannot wait to digest this.

It's a bit sad though, that the OP will likely be better than the games T_T. Oh, well. New things... it'll be interesting

RezChi

Canada2368 Posts

May 20 2012 02:12 GMT

#41

FBH joined Airforce Ace in 2010 btw

Kiett

United States7639 Posts

May 20 2012 02:13 GMT

#42

I echo the same sentiment that I left the last season with:

SKT is best KT

SPL team is best news team

^_^

Ace1123

Philippines1187 Posts

May 20 2012 02:13 GMT

#43

I want to see them play sc2 RIGHT NOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

z1n0

Denmark15 Posts

May 20 2012 02:15 GMT

#44

what an amazing write-up, thank you

Olinim

4044 Posts

May 20 2012 02:15 GMT

#45

Wow that was amazing. Quite excited for this!

Gorlin

United States2753 Posts

May 20 2012 02:16 GMT

#46

Holy shit, amazingly well done. I feel like I know all the information already, but I feel so compelled to just read this entire beautiful thing.

SarcasmMonster

3136 Posts

May 20 2012 02:17 GMT

#47

Wait, SC2 PvP > SC2 ZvZ? I don't think so...

Poll: Which is the better matchup in SC2?

ZvZ (25)

50%

PvP (25)

50%

50 total votes

Your vote: Which is the better matchup in SC2?

(Vote): ZvZ
(Vote): PvP

Torte de Lini

Germany38463 Posts

May 20 2012 02:18 GMT

#48

Wow, this is just absolutely gorgeous.

DPK

Canada487 Posts

May 20 2012 02:18 GMT

#49

Wow I'm pretty blown away! This write-up is seriously awesome. The matchup analysis and teams part are pretty cool as someone who like to watch BW but not really following the scene. Great job guys!!

blacktitan

United States26 Posts

May 20 2012 02:18 GMT

#50

does anyone know where i can watch the stream for this?

Bareleon

371 Posts

May 20 2012 02:18 GMT

#51

When will they play SC2?

Draconicfire

Canada2562 Posts

May 20 2012 02:19 GMT

#52

Oh man, epic post.

Cant wait for tonight!

Swampsteel

United States94 Posts

May 20 2012 02:21 GMT

#53

Great article, and I love the mousing over maps to load their pictures!

Bigtony

United States1606 Posts

May 20 2012 02:21 GMT

#54

My time telling skills are pretty bad...does this start in about 40 minutes? (11pm EST?)

Looking forward to this :D

Azera

3800 Posts

May 20 2012 02:22 GMT

#55

This is pretty sick

Shocae

United States141 Posts

May 20 2012 02:23 GMT

#56

First time watching BW. I'm pretty stoked!

Ero-Sennin

United States756 Posts

May 20 2012 02:23 GMT

#57

Awesome job

Sliver

United States402 Posts

May 20 2012 02:24 GMT

#58

I think the SC2 Teams tab is broken, as it just shows the BW teams again.

BloodNinja

United States2791 Posts

May 20 2012 02:26 GMT

#59

This article was amazing. Awesome job to all involved.

ChoboKal

United States74 Posts

May 20 2012 02:26 GMT

#60

will we be able to watch this? and if so how.

Canucklehead

Canada5074 Posts

May 20 2012 02:26 GMT

#61

So there's no official english stream for this? I thought that was what torchtrap was for.

MCXD

Australia2738 Posts

May 20 2012 02:27 GMT

#62

On May 20 2012 11:17 SarcasmMonster wrote:
Wait, SC2 PvP > SC2 ZvZ? I don't think so...

Poll: Which is the better matchup in SC2?

ZvZ (25)

50%

PvP (25)

50%

50 total votes

Your vote: Which is the better matchup in SC2?

(Vote): ZvZ
(Vote): PvP

I think PvP and ZvZ aren't always good or are always bad. They produce a lot of terrible games, but also some of the best, most nail biting and most entertaining. I think PvP is currently a bit more reliable than ZvZ at producing good games recently though.

Mobius_1

United Kingdom2763 Posts

May 20 2012 02:27 GMT

#63

Wow that OP is so beautiful. Also that team section is great, wish it was around when I started watching BW

Superior KT Hwaiting!

Duckvillelol

Australia1238 Posts

May 20 2012 02:27 GMT

#64

LasTLie and I did a quick rundown of the SCBW vs SC2 differences for those of you who are unsure and haven't played SCBW before - please go have a look!

AyahuascaSage

31 Posts

May 20 2012 02:29 GMT

#65

Thank you very much for the write up! It looks excellent.

Chicken Chaser

United States533 Posts

May 20 2012 02:30 GMT

#66

Whoa, awesome article with a lot of resources and information. I love how there's a great overview of BW stuff to help us non-BW folk know what to look for and expect in these games.

SarcasmMonster

3136 Posts

May 20 2012 02:30 GMT

#67

On May 20 2012 11:27 MCXD wrote:

Show nested quote +

My objection is that the OP stated it as if that's the general concensus.

Asthenic

United Kingdom45 Posts

May 20 2012 02:30 GMT

#68

Thanks so much for this.Amazing OP, as a relative noobie to SC2 (9 months or so) I feel like I'm just getting to grips with the scene. This was a massively helpful brief catch up on broodwar! So excited now...

Whatson

United States5356 Posts

May 20 2012 02:31 GMT

#69

I don't think I've seen an article of this caliber since the Farewell MBC Memorial. Well done.

shz

Germany2687 Posts

May 20 2012 02:32 GMT

#70

What a great article, thanks! I'm tired, but hyped!

djWHEAT

United States925 Posts

May 20 2012 02:33 GMT

#71

Just spent an hour reading this... It's incredible. A massive thanks to the author who obviously poured a ton of effort into it.

menaceko

United States58 Posts

May 20 2012 02:33 GMT

#72

SAMSUNG KHAN FIGHTING!!!!!

MrCon

France29748 Posts

May 20 2012 02:34 GMT

#73

Wow, this as awesome. And I haven't even finished reading everything. Amazing article.

Pucca

Taiwan1280 Posts

May 20 2012 02:34 GMT

#74

I love Brood War always have always will. I like Starcraft 2. Sadly I don't really care for this proleague since the commentary isn't in English from what I understand of it. I wish it was like the GSL where they both had English and Korean? Does anyone know if they have that option？

castled

United States322 Posts

May 20 2012 02:34 GMT

#75

sick article, as someone who doesn't know much about BW but is really looking forward to those games, I really appreciate the infos

las91

United States5080 Posts

May 20 2012 02:35 GMT

#76

Gogo KT! God will win all. Also sick sick article, and incredibly well put-together!

crazymunch

Australia44 Posts

May 20 2012 02:35 GMT

#77

By far the best PL Hype thread I've ever seen... It's beautiful!

Whatson

United States5356 Posts

May 20 2012 02:36 GMT

#78

Actually, scratch my last statement. This is BY FAR the best article I've EVER seen on TL.

Philipd122

Australia776 Posts

May 20 2012 02:38 GMT

#79

Absolutely amazing writeup.

jazzyjazz

941 Posts

May 20 2012 02:39 GMT

#80

Omg so much hype for today! gogogogo!

PantsB

United States77 Posts

May 20 2012 02:39 GMT

#81

Excellent writeup, great prep work for the big premier

DisaFear

Australia4074 Posts

May 20 2012 02:40 GMT

#82

So detailed and well written, nicely done

jumbotroN

Peru229 Posts

May 20 2012 02:40 GMT

#83

THIS IS BROODWAR!

...and SC2 =/.

iblackbg

Bulgaria7 Posts

May 20 2012 02:40 GMT

#84

For the love of God - so many retards on this world... Did BW start it all - YES. Does it deserve all of our respect - YES. Should it be played 50 years before ppl realise that it's not a thing you should be playin in 2060 - NO ( as well in 2012 for that matter ). Did the BW players had the choice to switch to SC2 when the beta and even the WoL came out - YES. Did they - NO. Did they kept earning a shitload of money over a game so screwed up when it comes to basic macro control that you have to be almost unhuman to manage it - GOD YES. Should ALL of US "SC2 people" (as bunch of you reffered to GSL fans) feel sorry or guilty over the fact that BW died years ago - HELL NO. You don't wanna realise it - YOUR PROBLEM. My point is - THIS IS THE MOST STUPID IDEA I EVER ENCOUNTERED IN MY ENTTIRE LIFE. BW DIED LONG AGO. Suck it up. Leave it be. If you wanna be a part of the future - then so be it. If not - don't rub stupidity onto our faces... SC2 >>>BW !!!

User was warned for this post

Baptista

Poland141 Posts

May 20 2012 02:41 GMT

#85

in sc2 guide 3rd line of late game pvt guide needs a one space

boesthius

United States11637 Posts

May 20 2012 02:42 GMT

#86

--- Nuked ---

Carbonthief

United States289 Posts

May 20 2012 02:43 GMT

#87

Wow the matchup explanations are really cool.

Diizzy

United States828 Posts

May 20 2012 02:43 GMT

#88

On May 20 2012 11:40 iblackbg wrote:
For the love of God - so many retards on this world... Did BW start it all - YES. Does it deserve all of our respect - YES. Should it be played 50 years before ppl realise that it's not a thing you should be playin in 2060 - NO ( as well in 2012 for that matter ). Did the BW players had the choice to switch to SC2 when the beta and even the WoL came out - YES. Did they - NO. Did they kept earning a shitload of money over a game so screwed up when it comes to basic macro control that you have to be almost unhuman to manage it - GOD YES. Should ALL of US "SC2 people" (as bunch of you reffered to GSL fans) feel sorry or guilty over the fact that BW died years ago - HELL NO. You don't wanna realise it - YOUR PROBLEM. My point is - THIS IS THE MOST STUPID IDEA I EVER ENCOUNTERED IN MY ENTTIRE LIFE. BW DIED LONG AGO. Suck it up. Leave it be. If you wanna be a part of the future - then so be it. If not - don't rub stupidity onto our faces... SC2 >>>BW !!!

i was waiting for a troll to finally show up.

Decapitation

United States35 Posts

May 20 2012 02:43 GMT

#89

WHERE IS THE STEAM! AAAHHH!

iblackbg

Bulgaria7 Posts

May 20 2012 02:44 GMT

#90

Not a troll mate - just a person with with reason within the brain...

Whatson

United States5356 Posts

May 20 2012 02:45 GMT

#91

...Did you even read the intro of the paragraph?
"We don't think there needs to be any hostility between BW and SC2 fans"
And then you just throw this bombshell in. Good job, way to represent.

EDIT: TL mods are so good

TheDougler

Canada8302 Posts

May 20 2012 02:46 GMT

#92

OMG you guys did an amazing job of this!

Kinky

United States4126 Posts

May 20 2012 02:46 GMT

#93

Amazing writeup! I like the presentation :D

Lord_J

Kenya1085 Posts

May 20 2012 02:46 GMT

#94

I'm not sure what to expect from this format, but I'm certainly intrigued.

iblackbg

Bulgaria7 Posts

May 20 2012 02:49 GMT

#95

Just got a warning because "This is completely off topic - boesthius". I guess the shepherd is smart as his flock...

User was banned for this post.

Yosi

Poland49 Posts

May 20 2012 02:49 GMT

#96

-.-
o.o
!O.O!
ORGASM!

SiDX

New Zealand1975 Posts

May 20 2012 02:50 GMT

#97

So hyped!

ELYSiUMlol

United States89 Posts

May 20 2012 02:52 GMT

#98

On May 20 2012 11:43 Diizzy wrote:

Show nested quote +

i was waiting for a troll to finally show up.

Solid work using the word "troll" instead of just calling him an idiot, there's actually a difference.

Also this OP is fucking beautiful and I'm happy there's actual metagame insight because I wasn't fully familiar with a few of the BW matchup metagames seeing as I'm an SC2 baby. <3

kabar

United States616 Posts

May 20 2012 02:53 GMT

#99

very excited to see how the bw players do at sc2. i want to see soulkey in particular. hyped!

larse

1611 Posts

May 20 2012 02:53 GMT

#100

The Korean Stream, right now streaming.

Whatson

United States5356 Posts

May 20 2012 02:54 GMT

#101

On May 20 2012 11:49 iblackbg wrote:
Just got a warning because "This is completely off topic - boesthius". I guess the shepherd is smart as his flock...

Insulting mods is not the way to go on here

Just sayin.

iblackbg

Bulgaria7 Posts

May 20 2012 02:55 GMT

#102

On May 20 2012 11:52 ELYSiUMlol wrote:

Show nested quote +

Yes morons. I guess you'd love a Red Alert Ace match after the BW/SC2 stupid mash-up matches.That would be huge for you mentally obstructed fucks...

Sabu113

United States11040 Posts

May 20 2012 02:55 GMT

#103

KHAN HWAITING.
2012 and beyond.

Lovely article.

riptide

5673 Posts

May 20 2012 02:56 GMT

#104

That guy is pretty mad.

Don't be mad like him. Enjoy Proleague, everyone!

Noam

Israel2209 Posts

May 20 2012 02:57 GMT

#105

This is an awesome writeup, and so well designed.

seph`

Austria329 Posts

May 20 2012 02:58 GMT

#106

sick article, thanks!

ZombieGrub

United States692 Posts

May 20 2012 02:58 GMT

#107

This is an amazing write-up. I've tried reading BW reports in the past as a SC2 player brought into the BW scene (and wishing she had gotten in sooner), but reading it in this style made everything a little more understandable. Like reading the SC2 MU explanation - 'this isn't the half of it!' But that must be what the BW players are thinking, so now I'm REALLY interested to see how I can analyze and compare BW games, etc. And the coaching style...I don't think SC2 fans are as exposed to these type of team strategies, so it was so cool to read it and understand what team leagues -could be-.

This has gotten me so excited, and I read it in perfect timing for the opening.

0dem

Germany129 Posts

May 20 2012 03:01 GMT

#108

The stream isnt working for me TT
Do i need a korean ip or anything?

GreYMisT

United States6736 Posts

May 20 2012 03:02 GMT

#109

The posts highlighted in red are how we Don't post in this tread!

A message brought to you by TL, with love.

GOGO jaedong! death stare ftw!

soon.Cloak

United States983 Posts

May 20 2012 03:03 GMT

#110

Must say, with all the negativity of the BW+SC2 mix, I would assume your explanation of the dif. matchups would help people (i.e. me) know what's going on, to make the game somewhat palatable. gj with that.

torm3ntin

Brazil2534 Posts

May 20 2012 03:05 GMT

#111

wow. i could give this thread to my mother and she would finally understand what this is all about :D

GulpyBlinkeyes

United States1449 Posts

May 20 2012 03:06 GMT

#112

Here we go. Going to be so fascinated to see how this turns out. I will miss the old PL, but this could be fun too!

Stellar writeup, too!

awakenx

United States341 Posts

May 20 2012 03:06 GMT

#113

wow, i didnt know creating this layout was possible in a forum post :O very nice job

OneBaseKing

Afghanistan412 Posts

May 20 2012 03:07 GMT

#114

On May 20 2012 11:01 Diizzy wrote:

Show nested quote +

Thank you thank you :D

InseKtSC2

United States173 Posts

May 20 2012 03:07 GMT

#115

lol 360p, koreans sure keep up with the times..

also no english broadcasters = horrible.

Kespa does not throw good events, they are wayyy too pigheaded.

Tufas

Austria2259 Posts

May 20 2012 03:07 GMT

#116

As biased as always, but non the less ACE has this. GOGO FBH

Adreme

United States5574 Posts

May 20 2012 03:09 GMT

#117

I dont know why but "reavers make things go boom" made me completely lose it. Great write-up and am looking forward tot his.

DropTester

Australia608 Posts

May 20 2012 03:14 GMT

#118

awesome writeup

been following both games so this season of proleague will be fun. I was thinking about the strategies for sending out players too.

magnaflow

Canada1521 Posts

May 20 2012 03:25 GMT

#119

Are there going to be streams for this??

Sleed

Canada181 Posts

May 20 2012 03:26 GMT

#120

Thank you so much for this guide / preview, this is amazing. Great pice of work! I am really excited to see how this hybrid league plays out!

Dodgin

Canada39254 Posts

May 20 2012 03:29 GMT

#121

If you guys have BW disabled on your sidebar you need to enable it to see the stream listing.

Snoodles

401 Posts

May 20 2012 03:29 GMT

#122

Which team is flash on?

Pandain

United States12985 Posts

May 20 2012 03:29 GMT

#123

100% thanks. Your work is 100% appreaciated

aintz

Canada5624 Posts

May 20 2012 03:31 GMT

#124

so so so excited.

GigaTron

Bangladesh21 Posts

May 20 2012 03:31 GMT

#125

Hi I am a super noob and this is probably my 1st post... Im going to totally be stupid but still ask.. HOW and WHERE DO I WATCH THIS? I apologize in advance

Snoodles

401 Posts

May 20 2012 03:32 GMT

#126

On May 20 2012 12:31 GigaTron wrote:
Hi I am a super noob and this is probably my 1st post... Im going to totally be stupid but still ask.. HOW and WHERE DO I WATCH THIS? I apologize in advance

http://www.teamliquid.net/video/streams/Pokebunny

Merikh

United States918 Posts

May 20 2012 03:33 GMT

#127

On May 20 2012 12:31 GigaTron wrote:
Hi I am a super noob and this is probably my 1st post... Im going to totally be stupid but still ask.. HOW and WHERE DO I WATCH THIS? I apologize in advance

For starters look on the right side of the page.

http://www.youtube.com/esportstv <- try there

GigaTron

Bangladesh21 Posts

May 20 2012 03:34 GMT

#128

OMG I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.... thank youuu.. words cannot express my gratitude but really thank you

prOpSnuffe

Sweden241 Posts

May 20 2012 03:34 GMT

#129

On May 20 2012 12:29 Snoodles wrote:
Which team is flash on?

GigaTron

Bangladesh21 Posts

May 20 2012 03:36 GMT

#130

i just realized PL is SPL... damn it... i feel like a retard... ITS RIGHT THERE!!!! lol

Fatboyha

Uruguay1 Post

May 20 2012 03:40 GMT

#131

are only 2 teams playing today?

Merikh

United States918 Posts

May 20 2012 03:43 GMT

#132

On May 20 2012 12:40 Fatboyha wrote:
are only 2 teams playing today?

All teams are playing today

BraneSC2

United States123 Posts

May 20 2012 03:43 GMT

#133

I have never been so excited. Waiting for this day to come for so long, and then it comes so suddenly. Such an excitement rush!

Gogogo t1!

AJMcSpiffy

United States1154 Posts

May 20 2012 03:46 GMT

#134

This is a really great layout, I loved being able to get an overview of each BW matchup to re-familiarize myself with it. Really excited for this new season

GhostKorean

United States2330 Posts

May 20 2012 03:47 GMT

#135

wrong thread

gokai

United States812 Posts

May 20 2012 03:54 GMT

#136

So has any teams recruited SC2 players yet? Or they just training their current roster to play SC2?

Specialist

United States803 Posts

May 20 2012 03:58 GMT

#137

On May 20 2012 12:54 gokai wrote:
So has any teams recruited SC2 players yet? Or they just training their current roster to play SC2?

they can't exclusive play sc2, u have to alternate bw and sc2... so it's highly unlikely that sc2 pros will be recruited (* cuz they can't play bw)

Snoodles

401 Posts

May 20 2012 03:59 GMT

#138

The first Starcraft 2 game is about to start. Can't wait to see how it goes.

broz0rs

United States2294 Posts

May 20 2012 04:00 GMT

#139

lolol holy shit what an OP. gosh it even has javascript enabled in the links for added effect.

Woj

United States133 Posts

May 20 2012 04:15 GMT

#140

Is it just me or is the sc2 distorted? it looks "flat" like BW...

Yoshi Kirishima

United States10306 Posts

May 20 2012 04:17 GMT

#141

On May 20 2012 13:15 Woj wrote:
Is it just me or is the sc2 distorted? it looks "flat" like BW...

yeah, and it seems that (or at least the observer) they are not using widescreen aspect =/

Snoodles

401 Posts

May 20 2012 04:22 GMT

#142

On May 20 2012 13:15 Woj wrote:
Is it just me or is the sc2 distorted? it looks "flat" like BW...

Low graphics settings TT

DropBear

Australia4317 Posts

May 20 2012 04:23 GMT

#143

I like how you've done this page, it makes it very accessible.

Dox

Australia1199 Posts

May 20 2012 04:25 GMT

#144

This is beautiful. So happy.

Yergidy

United States2107 Posts

May 20 2012 04:28 GMT

#145

AMAZING write up! Good job!

Alabasern

United States4005 Posts

May 20 2012 04:30 GMT

#146

GoGo Jangbi!

Blurbs

Sweden12 Posts

May 20 2012 04:32 GMT

#147

Do they know that it isn't supposed to be 4:3? Cool event anyway.

Jebusrocks

Canada62 Posts

May 20 2012 04:35 GMT

#148

JAEDONG!!!

lbmaian

United States689 Posts

May 20 2012 04:38 GMT

#149

Holy shit this was today??

Son of Gnome

United States777 Posts

May 20 2012 04:40 GMT

#150

Great write up. Thank you for the match up summaries as well I have never played BW and it was nice to get the chance to understand the matchups as they are related to SC2.

Snoodles

401 Posts

May 20 2012 04:48 GMT

#151

On May 20 2012 13:35 Jebusrocks wrote:
JAEDONG!!!

Jaedong

OdiousTea

Australia357 Posts

May 20 2012 04:51 GMT

#152

Jaedong...

mrjpark

United States276 Posts

May 20 2012 04:52 GMT

#153

Jaedong's opening was pretty impressive. He still has good micro. But then it basically became a Funday Monday.

Grizzled

Belgium1 Post

May 20 2012 04:54 GMT

#154

This is an amazing write up. So helpful for fans from both sides to enjoy this momentousness event. Brood War, Starcraft2 it's all good! Have fun everyone.

Snoodles

401 Posts

May 20 2012 04:54 GMT

#155

On May 20 2012 13:52 mrjpark wrote:
Jaedong's opening was pretty impressive. He still has good micro. But then it basically became a Funday Monday.

It's very interesting. It's clear that they've been studying modern SC2 progamer builds, but they way their battles turn out is very different. I'm pretty pleased with the first sc2 games.

mrjpark

United States276 Posts

May 20 2012 04:56 GMT

#156

Dori-toss!

On May 20 2012 13:54 Snoodles wrote:

Show nested quote +

It's very interesting. It's clear that they've been studying modern SC2 progamer builds, but they way their battles turn out is very different. I'm pretty pleased with the first sc2 games.

It's just a complete lack of experience or game understanding. Jaedong apparently just don't get that putting 10 spines in your main and sending 1/3 of your army to counter-attack when the Protoss is at your natural is bad because they're just gonna kill your 2nd and 3rd

I think he could have crushed it if he set up a flank with the counter-attack roaches + whatever he can rally from his 3rd and drones if he needs it. Those force fields were SOOOO inefficient LOL. Or just send his entire army for a base race so as to make those spines useful. He's just not that comfortable with the game yet. The way he reacted was the one way to get completely owned, hehe.

eeniebear

United States197 Posts

May 20 2012 05:03 GMT

#157

What a pile of garbage that second half was. Activision should be ashamed of what it's done to kill a true competitive sport.

Ciryandor

United States3735 Posts

May 20 2012 05:03 GMT

#158

On May 20 2012 12:07 InseKtSC2 wrote:
lol 360p, koreans sure keep up with the times..

also no english broadcasters = horrible.

Kespa does not throw good events, they are wayyy too pigheaded.

I don't think you realize that BW graphics don't benefit from any increase in quality beyond 480p, and that ProLeague's primary audience via OGN is Korean Cable viewers, so they don't need English commentators (why spend for them when you have no avenue to compensate for their cost?)

OdiousTea

Australia357 Posts

May 20 2012 05:07 GMT

#159

Oh by the way I think the images of the SC2 PvT Match up analysis are switched.

mrjpark

United States276 Posts

May 20 2012 05:08 GMT

#160

That's actually a pretty cool Pepsi commercial. Nothing like any of the other Korean commercials, lol.

reikai

United States359 Posts

May 20 2012 05:09 GMT

#161

did you get the picture right for PvZ brood war?

the caption reads: Gateway pressure punishes a greedy zerg

but there's a corsair and no gateway units...

mrjpark

United States276 Posts

May 20 2012 05:21 GMT

#162

On May 20 2012 14:09 reikai wrote:
did you get the picture right for PvZ brood war?

the caption reads: Gateway pressure punishes a greedy zerg

but there's a corsair and no gateway units...

Maybe there's a cloaked DT there we can't see? xD

lardroom

United States1017 Posts

May 20 2012 05:24 GMT

#163

Amazing write up and great intro for both new viewers and veterans.

kellymilkies

Singapore1393 Posts

May 20 2012 05:28 GMT

#164

Wowwwwwwwww what a great post.

EienShinwa

United States655 Posts

May 20 2012 05:38 GMT

#165

Can't wait for this. Going to be legendary.

Lysanias

Netherlands8351 Posts

May 20 2012 06:05 GMT

#166

FXO's sucky ?

That typo made me laugh. This is one of the best i have ever read here, the amount of info and help here is simply amazing.
Ty !

scarper65

1560 Posts

May 20 2012 06:06 GMT

#167

This is amazing

ZeroWave

Israel49 Posts

May 20 2012 06:40 GMT

#168

Great job, amazing.

bittman

Australia8759 Posts

May 20 2012 06:43 GMT

#169

Great job. Gonna spend some time reading it.

SC2 fan here, looking forward to seeing the hybrid. And hopefully all the haters for either side go plague something else.

DYEAlabaster

Canada1009 Posts

May 20 2012 06:54 GMT

#170

One of the best, if not the best, post i've ever seen on TL. *slow clap*

yoten

United States57 Posts

May 20 2012 07:00 GMT

#171

I am SO pumped. SC2 fan here but I'm looking forward to learning a bit about BW and to having BW fans learn about SC2. Should be an awesome "cultural exchange."

MH.Ithyn

United States24 Posts

May 20 2012 07:30 GMT

#172

all my nerd dreams come true!

im an sc2 fan since release, but after playing bought the battlechest to get the singleplayer, ended up loving BW just as much as sc2. is it blasphemy to like both? lol

julianto

2292 Posts

May 20 2012 07:32 GMT

#173

Is there a schedule I can see? When will Flash or Bisu or Stork play?

pestilenz

Denmark379 Posts

May 20 2012 07:51 GMT

#174

Awesome read!

People should really take some time and read it (maybe not all, but at least enough to get into both SC1 and 2)

bLooD.

Germany470 Posts

May 20 2012 07:55 GMT

#175

How was that Jeadong game? Just woked up.... so missed it. :S

OdiousTea

Australia357 Posts

May 20 2012 07:57 GMT

#176

Flash :O

OdiousTea

Australia357 Posts

May 20 2012 07:57 GMT

#177

OH SHIT FLASH AND EFFORT??? WHAT?

mrjpark

United States276 Posts

May 20 2012 07:57 GMT

#178

Flash is playing!

Stancel

Singapore15360 Posts

May 20 2012 08:07 GMT

#179

this is amazing

<3 TL writeups

mrjpark

United States276 Posts

May 20 2012 08:11 GMT

#180

I have to say, Effort is pretty good. Obviously Flash isn't the highest level of competition, but Effort has good macro and unit control.

Edit: I say that and then I remember screaming at him to get the lings on the tanks and the blings on the marines

jiberish

80 Posts

May 20 2012 08:12 GMT

#181

They needed to make their own league because they would get face rolled in gsl

rtsAlaran

Germany383 Posts

May 20 2012 08:18 GMT

#182

WOAH! What a beast of an article!
Awesome Job!

tl,dr (fully) ;p

jax1492

United States1632 Posts

May 20 2012 08:20 GMT

#183

Effort looks like the next sc2 zerg superstar

mrjpark

United States276 Posts

May 20 2012 08:23 GMT

#184

Looking at the slow-mo, he really could have split his banelings a little better.

Tendoi

Romania62 Posts

May 20 2012 08:26 GMT

#185

Well, the entertainment for today's ended.

mrjpark

United States276 Posts

May 20 2012 08:40 GMT

#186

Yeah, it's definitely gonna take a bit before they catch up in their understanding of the game. Effort is impressive for a first showing, though.

FATJESUSONABIKE

184 Posts

May 20 2012 08:45 GMT

#187

just in case you people haven't noticed: Proleague protosses have a 100% winrate on sc2 so far ;-)
including a scandalous win against JD and an arguably equally scandalous one against EffOrt

nachtkap

Germany195 Posts

May 20 2012 08:51 GMT

#188

hmmmmm is there a reason why I can't watch the youtube stream from germany?

Meatloaf

Spain664 Posts

May 20 2012 08:53 GMT

#189

well the games where kinda basic... hope they get to show better games in the future. Basically effort exploited the larvae mechanic and killed an unsuspecting flash that had no tanks to focus fire his banelings and give shelter to his marines... basically Flash had his unit comp all wrong to fight back Effort.

With Lizzy happened the other way around , countered the roach ling of Effort with Immo/stalker/sentry and FF , Effort did not made good use of his infestors and died.

those were basic unit composition wins , its like they dont really know how to stop things and i didnt see lots of scouting going on... its like theyre playing blind.

On the good side loved the production value here , it really makes the show different for the viewer with all those player reaction cams.

GG SPL ill keep watching till you deliver awesome games ^^

Crazyeyes

Canada1342 Posts

May 20 2012 09:07 GMT

#190

Jesus christ that post is beautiful.

Taekwon

United States8155 Posts

May 20 2012 09:08 GMT

#191

loving the format of the writeup

nachtkap

Germany195 Posts

May 20 2012 09:21 GMT

#192

On May 20 2012 17:53 Meatloaf wrote:
those were basic unit composition wins , its like they dont really know how to stop things and i didnt see lots of scouting going on... its like theyre playing blind.

I kinda assumed that was one of the points for the format. sc2 fans should be able to tell what a sc2 game should look like. I have to say those games arent there yet but should be interesting to see SPL and then see a "normal sc2 tournament.

LightArchon

United Kingdom18 Posts

May 20 2012 09:44 GMT

#193

Awesome thread

Great games so far!

Musicus

Germany23576 Posts

May 20 2012 09:46 GMT

#194

What is this madness, sickest shit ever, amazin scripting, perfect layout!

See.Blue

United States2673 Posts

May 20 2012 09:50 GMT

#195

FUCK YES EFFORT :D

samurai80

Japan4225 Posts

May 20 2012 10:05 GMT

#196

funny to see this

SC2 played by BW players looks different !

neurosx

Luxembourg1096 Posts

May 20 2012 10:06 GMT

#197

It feels so weird but still awesome

samurai80

Japan4225 Posts

May 20 2012 10:08 GMT

#198

OMG windows update !???

Ziken

Ghana1743 Posts

May 20 2012 10:20 GMT

#199

Wow, I must say, amazing article!! Very well written, a couple of new things about teams even for someone like me who follows both scenes :D

TheBorg

Netherlands56 Posts

May 20 2012 10:23 GMT

#200

Anyone notice that the centre of the last BW map is a swastika?

FlamingForce

Netherlands701 Posts

May 20 2012 10:37 GMT

#201

Will there be vods? o.o
The starting time was pretty much impossible for me.

Antares_

Poland269 Posts

May 20 2012 10:41 GMT

#202

Great article. Finally, I won't be so puzzled when watching BW anymore

qqK

Germany282 Posts

May 20 2012 10:42 GMT

#203

On May 20 2012 19:23 TheBorg wrote:
Anyone notice that the centre of the last BW map is a swastika?

so what?

Bareleon

371 Posts

May 20 2012 10:55 GMT

#204

No race is really that OP to another in sc2. The better player wins and (best? was his name) just dominated Jaedong. Jaedong wasnt that good tbh.

Watch seasoned sc2 pros destroy protosses

Apom

France655 Posts

May 20 2012 11:03 GMT

#205

Very good writing. Thanks to TL writers !

HuffSteR

Bulgaria16 Posts

May 20 2012 11:07 GMT

#206

i want vods or stream pls!?

Cyborgryna

Germany12 Posts

May 20 2012 11:07 GMT

#207

thats why i love TL...great threat! =]

CursedRich

United Kingdom737 Posts

May 20 2012 11:13 GMT

#208

Massive respect to whoever did that OP, great work, thx

Destroyr

Germany299 Posts

May 20 2012 11:21 GMT

#209

Such a great work. You Are awesome :D

Lasbike

France2888 Posts

May 20 2012 11:38 GMT

#210

I have literally never seen such a beautiful OP. Seriously, I didn't even know you could do that on a forum : O

Thank you for all the informations (about match ups, maps, teams, etc..)

Caddy

United Kingdom178 Posts

May 20 2012 11:46 GMT

#211

Fantastic article!

DarkPlasmaBall

United States44019 Posts

May 20 2012 12:28 GMT

#212

What an amazing article *-* So gorgeous

nAno[sc2]

United States3 Posts

May 20 2012 12:29 GMT

#213

http://www.youtube.com/esportstv

VoDs are on this YouTube page.

Including FlasH & Jaedong

FlamingForce

Netherlands701 Posts

May 20 2012 12:38 GMT

#214

On May 20 2012 21:29 nAno[sc2] wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/esportstv

VoDs are on this YouTube page.

Including FlasH & Jaedong

Many thx

Kontys

Finland659 Posts

May 20 2012 12:50 GMT

#215

Uhhh.. no english casting and no live streams?

SCkad

Scotland97 Posts

May 20 2012 12:53 GMT

#216

On May 20 2012 21:50 Kontys wrote:
Uhhh.. no english casting and no live streams?

pretty sure sayle is the english restream but it only shows up if your calendar isn't set on only sc2 events i think

FATJESUSONABIKE

184 Posts

May 20 2012 13:09 GMT

#217

am i the only one who feels deep pain to the soul seeing random (some not even A-team) protosses sit back in base for ages and beat the best brood war players of all time after having shamelessly maxed out?

you guys realize 'korean BW fans' who are discovering sc2 today must be incredibly puzzled at how strong P is right? same for most of the players.

truth is protoss is not that strong, it's just very easy.

Yaki

France4234 Posts

May 20 2012 13:27 GMT

#218

nice preview

Steglich

Denmark282 Posts

May 20 2012 13:35 GMT

#219

This is so cool!

The BW players are far from code A skill in sc2.
And what is up with the protoss domination?

Steglich

Denmark282 Posts

May 20 2012 13:37 GMT

#220

On May 20 2012 22:09 FATJESUSONABIKE wrote:
am i the only one who feels deep pain to the soul seeing random (some not even A-team) protosses sit back in base for ages and beat the best brood war players of all time after having shamelessly maxed out?

you guys realize 'korean BW fans' who are discovering sc2 today must be incredibly puzzled at how strong P is right? same for most of the players.

truth is protoss is not that strong, it's just very easy.

Yes yes yes. You are so right, you just said anything i had thought.
And it is sad.

Flobby

Hong Kong58 Posts

May 20 2012 13:41 GMT

#221

wow really well written and designed article

FATJESUSONABIKE

184 Posts

May 20 2012 14:12 GMT

#222

well that was a disgustingly lopsided day of pro(toss)league.

BW games sucked (except mini's comeback) and SC2 games.were plainly horrid (except for Flash vs EffOrt that i somewhat found interesting).

Bareleon

371 Posts

May 20 2012 14:18 GMT

#223

On May 20 2012 23:12 FATJESUSONABIKE wrote:
well that was a disgustingly lopsided day of pro(toss)league.

BW games sucked (except mini's comeback) and SC2 games.were plainly horrid (except for Flash vs EffOrt that i somewhat found interesting).

Yeah because they clearly practiced SC2 for 2 plus years, oh wait...

Bareleon

371 Posts

May 20 2012 14:20 GMT

#224

I really liked the first sc2 match, it was a pvp between Best and someone else. Not sure if it would work with the seasoned pros but I really liked the WP double immo dropped then warped in zlots in front so his opponent's zlots could not get to his immos. well played best!!!

I can tell best is gonna become a beast in time!!!

Kontys

Finland659 Posts

May 20 2012 14:31 GMT

#225

Effort and Motive played good games, Best was getting owned in PvP, but his opponent broke the contain way early out of confusion.

Flash, like the sc2 content in general, was somewhat unconvincing, but this is the season from hell for these players.. mistakes and apparent poor play ought to just be forgiven on the spot. (Having to train 2 games at once?? Pure madness)

One thing that was striking in these games was how very precisely everything was managed. It wasn't the most brainy SC2, or the most strategically complex SC2 ever played, but damn, they were trying hard to play their best.

Arghnews

United Kingdom169 Posts

May 20 2012 15:01 GMT

#226

HOYL FUCKING SHIT IT'S REALLY HAPPENING.

:DDDD So happy, can't wait to see the SC1 pros in a year or so in SC2.

Flash v Effort, and look at their macro. They never miss a beat, cept I think at the end Flash does and he needs to add more raxes, but for 98% of the game both of them, phenomenal play. Can't wait to see these guys with time :D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: Ya, I think you're right, more tanks but also I think he could of supported a few more raxes. He started making thors to deal with the mutas at the end and that was a mistake

Needed dem tanks

Theovide

Sweden914 Posts

May 20 2012 15:31 GMT

#227

On May 21 2012 00:01 Arghnews wrote:
HOYL FUCKING SHIT IT'S REALLY HAPPENING.

:DDDD So happy, can't wait to see the SC1 pros in a year or so in SC2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsMRfislvQE

Flash v Effort, and look at their macro. They never miss a beat, cept I think at the end Flash does and he needs to add more raxes, but for 98% of the game both of them, phenomenal play. Can't wait to see these guys with time :D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not sure if Flash needed more raxes, he might have, but his biggest misstake was not getting enough tanks. Tanks are the key to zerg wave play. He could probably afforded to have put down 4-6 bunkers at the front as well.

Still though, that match was actually really nice, which isn't something that could be said about most of the other matches.

Also, how much I'd even want to join the protoss imba train, this is at least no show of that, it simply shows that terrans needs to know how to do TvP endgame to have a chance, meanwhile PvT endgame is really straightforward and thus maybe more easy to learn.

JOJOsc2news

3000 Posts

May 20 2012 15:41 GMT

#228

Great write-up SPL team!

Dante08

Singapore4121 Posts

May 20 2012 15:46 GMT

#229

Awesome article!!!

FATJESUSONABIKE

184 Posts

May 20 2012 16:26 GMT

#230

On May 20 2012 23:18 Bareleon wrote:

Show nested quote +

Yeah because they clearly practiced SC2 for 2 plus years, oh wait...

didn't say it was abnormal that the SC2 games were horrid. i was just stating a fact.

Woj

United States133 Posts

May 20 2012 16:40 GMT

#231

So funny to see the mass shift of new players to Protoss haha

Bareleon

371 Posts

May 20 2012 16:41 GMT

#232

On May 21 2012 01:26 FATJESUSONABIKE wrote:

Show nested quote +

didn't say it was abnormal that the SC2 games were horrid. i was just stating a fact.

Saying BW "sucked" is pretty much also saying they were horrid as well.

Antisocialmunky

United States5912 Posts

May 20 2012 16:44 GMT

#233

On May 21 2012 00:31 Theovide wrote:

Show nested quote +

He tried to out macro Effort and that simply isn't feasible in TvZ unless you got for the Factory All-in before Broodlords. He went for a marine opening and didn't know how to exploit it and lost.

The_Darkness

United States910 Posts

May 20 2012 16:48 GMT

#234

Never watched the SPL. Where can I see these games? Many thanks.

TheRealNanMan

United States1471 Posts

May 20 2012 16:49 GMT

#235

Awesome write up I had a blast watching the Pro League last night! Being able to watch both BW and SC2 in the same tournament was so entertaining! :D

Dr_Jones

Norway252 Posts

May 20 2012 16:52 GMT

#236

Well, at least the openings weren't your standard helion FE vs 3 queen spine build... I'm not too worried about the elephant in the room just yet

CakeSauc3

United States1437 Posts

May 20 2012 17:01 GMT

#237

This league is super fun to watch. Even though they suck at sc2 still, I think it's going to be fun to see them improve at a rapid rate and watch the little elephants grow up until they're GSL material

And in the meantime, I love watching bw <3

Proseat

Germany5113 Posts

May 20 2012 17:04 GMT

#238

What a great read! I commend the coverage team for trying to bring both BW and SC2 fans together in line with recent developments in Korea. For me it was a good brush-up on things I already knew but didn't go into too deep before.

During the Proleague broadcast today I enjoyed reading through the BW LR threads and seeing BW fans' reactions to their idols playing SC2 for the first time. It was great to see the occasional surprised epiphany and in general positive reactions to some of the units and strats being used in SC2. It was also great to see how genuine questions from BW fans about certain aspects of SC2 (i.e. what an "archon toilet" is) were properly explained whenever they popped up.

It goes without saying that BW players currently have a hard time to practice for two games at the same time and that there has not been much time yet to prepare for SC2. This is the reason why some of the SC2 play we saw today was not as refined yet as it could be and reminded some SC2 fans of play seen many months ago in SC2 leagues. That was to be expected and is actually quite interesting to see. And given more time, I'm sure the quality of games will rise considerably. Patience is advised.

What makes this new-format Proleague even more interesting -- and that is something I myself haven't really paid much attention to before reading this great post -- is indeed the unique challenges the coaching staff is facing, especially regarding the rule that players must alternate in playing BW and SC2. I look forward to seeing how BW players will develop in playing SC2 and how this season will play out. It definitely will give some previously underappreciated players a new chance to shine.

Thanks again for this great article!

mrtomjones

Canada4020 Posts

May 20 2012 17:58 GMT

#239

Is it just me or do the players from Samsung Khan look way older than the rest?

Great article btw! Did you have some of the SC2 article makers help or did the article writers already know what they wrote themselves?

xO.Thunder

United States37 Posts

May 20 2012 19:44 GMT

#240

It was really interesting to see the bw playing sc2.

They obviously are looking to current pro's for inspiration, I did notice that they rarely skip a beat when it comes to macro, it seems only their decision making needs work. But of course that takes time !

I can't wait for Bisu come out, and more play from Best !

shockaslim

United States1104 Posts

May 20 2012 21:19 GMT

#241

On May 21 2012 01:48 The_Darkness wrote:
Never watched the SPL. Where can I see these games? Many thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/esportstv

That has all of the matches on it from last night.

Whatson

United States5356 Posts

May 20 2012 21:19 GMT

#242

On May 21 2012 01:44 Antisocialmunky wrote:

Show nested quote +

He tried to out macro Effort and that simply isn't feasible in TvZ unless you got for the Factory All-in before Broodlords. He went for a marine opening and didn't know how to exploit it and lost.

Flash went for a fast 3OC build that a lot of Korean Terrans have been pulling out, but Flash didn't pressure AT ALL, he literally only had 1 rax by the time he was building his 3rd OC. Once Effort scouted it, he just shot straight up to 80 drones, 4 bases, and fast upgrades, and got all the tech buildings he needed. It was over by then.

Balgrog

United States1221 Posts

May 20 2012 21:30 GMT

#243

This is absolutely fantastic, to hungover to take anything seriously, but when I am no longer hungover, I am reading all of this. Thanks for trying to bridge the BW and SC2 gap

Engdrew

United States890 Posts

May 21 2012 00:11 GMT

#244

damn thats some really nice layout work. great read too

Darkman

United States64 Posts

May 21 2012 00:15 GMT

#245

I feel like we are watching sc2 from the beta lol

Bareleon

371 Posts

May 21 2012 00:34 GMT

#246

When will Bisu be playing SC2 during this tourney?

darkest44

United States1009 Posts

May 21 2012 00:39 GMT

#247

So when is the next broadcast? Anyone know?

Bareleon

371 Posts

May 21 2012 00:45 GMT

#248

On May 21 2012 09:39 darkest44 wrote:
So when is the next broadcast? Anyone know?

I think 11 PM eastern time? Not sure on that one though.

torm3ntin

Brazil2534 Posts

May 21 2012 01:13 GMT

#249

yeah. also asking myself hy tl has not updated the calendar with PL times.

Ruscour

5233 Posts

May 21 2012 01:14 GMT

#250

On May 21 2012 09:34 Bareleon wrote:
When will Bisu be playing SC2 during this tourney?

Next time SKT plays, + Show Spoiler +

he was supposed to play yesterday but the ace match in BW wasn't required so he has to play SC2 next

EDIT: Is no-one else seeing Upcoming events: 3h 46m [PL] Team 8 vs CJ??? It is on the calendar...

mrtomjones

Canada4020 Posts

May 21 2012 02:36 GMT

#251

On May 21 2012 10:14 Ruscour wrote:

Show nested quote +

Next time SKT plays, + Show Spoiler +

he was supposed to play yesterday but the ace match in BW wasn't required so he has to play SC2 next

EDIT: Is no-one else seeing Upcoming events: 3h 46m [PL] Team 8 vs CJ??? It is on the calendar...

Excellent :D He was the one i wanted to see in Sc2 anyways

Darkman

United States64 Posts

May 21 2012 05:01 GMT

#252

Team 8 vs CJ Entus is live

Meatloaf

Spain664 Posts

May 21 2012 06:17 GMT

#253

is there a way to figure our the schedule for the entire proleague somewhere?

id like to arrange a meetup with friends if theres some interesting match during a weekend

Edit: didnt read the article until now , and this is pure GOLD , didnt knew the awesomeness of the teams and their history.

also TY for the intro to brood war , will be useful when watching.

parkLife

Canada125 Posts

May 21 2012 13:45 GMT

#254

OMG... just going to their youtube channel to watch all these super pros play Starcraft 2 for real.... JD playing SC2... wanna cry XD

Crow!

United States150 Posts

May 21 2012 15:33 GMT

#255

These BW players quite clearly don't yet have any intuition for SC2. The games look like they're what would happen if you had someone play a few games in the beta and then told them to play a game now, umpteen patches later and with wildly different maps. Very frequent throwing away of armies and misuses of advantages, with an embarassing amount of 1-A siyndrome going on (this strikes me as the oddest; aren't they used to commanding units 12 at a time anyway?).

Seriously, I think most Diamond players on NA could have smashed the play they showed on this first day. A Zerg player moving his undetected burrowed roach ball away from the protoss stalker ball it was on directly underneath of, a Terran player running his whole army as one unit up a ramp, a Protoss letting his Zealots charge in one at a time through a narrow path to get kited to death, it was all painful to watch.

Presumably this will get better over time - in principle they already have all the requisite mechanical skills and just need to learn the basics of the game that even platinum NA players understand.

CrtBalorda

Slovenia704 Posts

May 21 2012 16:50 GMT

#256

On May 22 2012 00:33 Crow! wrote:
These BW players quite clearly don't yet have any intuition for SC2. The games look like they're what would happen if you had someone play a few games in the beta and then told them to play a game now, umpteen patches later and with wildly different maps. Very frequent throwing away of armies and misuses of advantages, with an embarassing amount of 1-A siyndrome going on (this strikes me as the oddest; aren't they used to commanding units 12 at a time anyway?).

Seriously, I think most Diamond players on NA could have smashed the play they showed on this first day. A Zerg player moving his undetected burrowed roach ball away from the protoss stalker ball it was on directly underneath of, a Terran player running his whole army as one unit up a ramp, a Protoss letting his Zealots charge in one at a time through a narrow path to get kited to death, it was all painful to watch.

Presumably this will get better over time - in principle they already have all the requisite mechanical skills and just need to learn the basics of the game that even platinum NA players understand.

Are you really making that compareson?

DifuntO

Greece2376 Posts

May 21 2012 18:19 GMT

#257

Great article,thanks for all the info!

Ripeace

34 Posts

May 21 2012 18:35 GMT

#258

On May 21 2012 09:15 Darkman wrote:
I feel like we are watching sc2 from the beta lol

You didn't play the beta. :p Because they were all super greedy...
I feel like we are watching players with an insane macro and micro, but who don't know enough at the moment.

Jaedong, Effort and Flash were really impressive at Starcraft 2, but they just did some stupid mistakes.
Flash had a split and a macro as good as MKP and Jaedong made a great game where he was close to win even without knowing how to counter his opponent push. Effort just plaied perfectly but he had no realy pressure in front (even if I'm sure he can handle any pressure).

aznball123

2759 Posts

May 21 2012 18:54 GMT

#259

How come in the liquid bets it says Cj won? From what I remember, Lizzy (KT) crushed Effort (Cj) in the ace match..?

Edit: Are we only counting the bo3 SC2 match? lol. that's pretty lame.

Shotglass

8 Posts

May 21 2012 21:52 GMT

#260

a lot of those sc2 games felt like i was watchign a torunament from a year or even longer ago

and then it hit me where ive seen jaedongs strategy before
[image loading]

OneBaseKing

Afghanistan412 Posts

May 22 2012 06:01 GMT

#261

On May 22 2012 06:52 Shotglass wrote:
a lot of those sc2 games felt like i was watchign a torunament from a year or even longer ago

and then it hit me where ive seen jaedongs strategy before
[image loading]

haha so true

4Relic

24 Posts

May 23 2012 03:31 GMT

#262

my god, this is awesome! Great layout, easy to use and view interface, thanks for this. Really good information!

Khainer

Netherlands54 Posts

May 24 2012 11:09 GMT

#263

Anyone else notice the swastika in the last map

WackaAlpaca

Canada208 Posts

May 27 2012 20:28 GMT

#264

wow this is the most amazing article ive ever read here....
major props.
10/10

SkrOs

Mexico2 Posts

May 30 2012 15:18 GMT

#265

so they will be playing both games?

Normal

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[SPL] Opening Day

[SPL] Opening Day

Table of Contents

The Basics for SPL S2

By: Plexa

Protoss vs. Zerg

Protoss vs. Terran

Protoss vs. Protoss

Terran vs. Zerg

Terran vs. Terran

Zerg vs. Zerg

Protoss vs. Zerg

Protoss vs. Terran

Protoss vs Protoss

Terran vs. Zerg

Terran vs. Terran

Zerg vs. Zerg

Coaching Strategy in the Hybrid League

By: Plexa

Completed

Ongoing

Upcoming