EPT
They held the group selection process for the next OGN Starleague coming up next week (kinda overlaps with the WCG, but I guess that's why they're called professional gamers...). If you're not familiar with the format yet, here's how it works:
1. The top three finishers from the last Starleague get seeds (i.e. they all get assigned separately to the head of Groups A - C). So, you have [Oops]Reach, Boxer and Yellow in Groups A, B, C, respectively.
2. The winner of the Challenge League (in this case Xellos[yG]) also gets a seed and is assigned top position in Group D.
3. Starting with Reach, each player take turns selecting one player from among the pool of qualifiers from the Duel Tournament.
4. The players who first got selected by the seeded players then, in turn, make their own selections and so on until all 16 players have been assigned to one of the four Groups.
5. There is a blanket condition that there may not be more than 2 players of the same race in one Group. This rule had a very mighty impact on the composition of one of the Groups, as will become apparent...
Ok, so without further ado, here's how the selection process went:
Group A: [Oops]Reach (P) -> ElkY (T) -> HOT_Forever (Z) -> [Red]Nada (T)
Group B: SlayerS_`BoxeR` (T) -> [Oops]Lee (T) -> Garimto (P) -> Jinnam (Z)
Group C: Yellow (Z) -> [Kor]Oddysay (T) -> [z-zone]KOs (T) -> [Soul]Chojja (Z)
Group D: Xellos[yG] (T) -> Mumyung (Z) -> Sync (T) -> Junwi (Z)
It's a matter of picking your poison really, all the Groups looking tough, as usual. But, rub your eyes and blink twice folks, your eyes do not deceive you: Group A looks to be perhaps the deadliest Group ever seen in Starleague history. Oh, my. So, what controlled substance was HOT on today that could have made him select, of all players, the most feared SC-meister on the planet right now? Well, it really wasn't his choice: only Nada and three Z users were left when it came time for HOT to make his selection, BUT all the other Groups after him had already hit their quota of Terrans. C'est la vie! (Once his predicament became apparent, HOT looked like he just ate a live frog and was about to throw up, poor guy...)
All the players were interviewed about their choices and I'll post an update on this thread soon giving you the juicy details... (see below)
[EDIT] Some notes from the selection ceremony:
- Reach (speaking through HOT 'cause he could't be there in person) said he picked ElkY because his own mass strats + ElkY's "miserable/wretched style" of play (a playful reference to the fact that ElkY's games tend to end up being fierce, drawn-out affairs, with multiple crises for ElkY and almost all map resources expended) should hopefully equal a very good, a very pitched, and a very loooong match.
- While most others were busy playing diplomat and coming up with tongue-in-cheek reasons for their choices while being careful not to offend anyone, here's Boxer's stated reasoning behind his choice of [Oops]Lee: "I'll be busy with the WCG and won't have as much time to prepare for the OGN Starleague. I wanted to make sure my opponent was someone who couldn't take advantage of that himself. I also wanted to avoid Zerg and Protoss as much as possible to cut down on prep time 'cause I'm already very familiar with how Terran strats and build-orders work. Lee is a logical choice because he's Terran and the pro team he's in ("POS team") is not very large and that should make things more difficult for him in terms of practice and preparation." Hey, what can I say? The guy's not the Terran Emperor for nothing.
- [Oops]Lee's classic response to Boxer's comments: "Hey, I woulda picked me, too!" Had the crowd roaring with laughter.
- Yellow's primary concern was to avoid as much as possible someone from the same IS team. Oddysay, picking up on this, played agent provocateur and purposely picked [z-zone]KOs, who happens to be on the IS team. Whatta guy. When goaded by the OGN commentators "Wouldn't it have been cooler if you'd picked Nada instead? It'd still screw the IS team, but just way cooler, don't you think?" Oddysay's response: "Uh, I think one storm is enough..." (a clever reference to Yellow's title as "The Storm Zerg" and Nada's as "The Tornado Terran.")
- Xellos just wanted a Z because of his strong bio, while Mumyung (IS team) played diplomat again by stating he just wanted to avoid the remaining Ts on the same team, Nada and KOs.
- [Oops]Lee also joined the diplomatic corp by saying he picked Garimto because he has some good toss practice partners on his POS team (including ProNT_Sonjjang) and that he always did well v P - in practice games. SURE. Guess it had nothing to do with the fact that Garimto now has a full-time job at a game development company and that he's got NO TIME to practice with anyone anymore, much less any MOTIVATION to win? As I wrote once before: diplomacy reached shamefully scandalous heights that day. Garimto isn't a pro gamer anymore. He's dead in the water, imo.
- After being chosen by default, Nada was asked about his rumored "weakness" v Starcraft_Side (Z) ("Joo Jin-chul"), forU (aka [Dak]ddong) (P) ("Lee Jae-hoon") and Oddysay (T) ("Han Woong-yol"). Nada's reply: "It's all true." To be fair, Nada does seem to be over the Starcraft_Side jinx. But the other two really have Nada's number: Oddy knocked out Nada from the WCG prelims and forU's made so many unbelieveable comebacks on Nada it's not even funny. Yes, it is possible to comeback v Nada - you just to be like Jae-hoon, that's all. Why they dominate v the most devastating player in the world is still somewhat of a mystery...
- Before choosing, Garimto states on the podium that his Group seemed to be made up of "old-timers," players who've been pro for a while now, and so he wants to pick someone who would complete this theme. With only Jinnam, Chojja and Junwi remaining, the camera suddenly focuses on Jinnam's startled face and people start laughing their heads off. The OGN commentators get into it and facetiously start asking each other "Gee, I wonder who Garimto's gonna pick?" Fun stuff.
- KOs had a choice between Chojja and Junwi. Now, Junwi's a rising star these days whose skills have improved geometrically since joining the HanbitStars pro team, but the experience and "proven-under-fire" factor logically goes to Chojja (still the holder of the "Man with the Fastest Hands in SC" title). But, KOs wasn't thinking about such silly things. He was just miffed that he got stuck in the same Group as his teammate Yellow. So, in the true sportsman's spirit of doing unto others as they do unto you, he picked Chojja and sent Junwi into the same Group as Junwi's teammate Sync, "just so they know how it feels." CATFIGHT!
- Junwi, true to his tender age, answered all questions "yes" or "no." I'm not sure, but I believe the OGN commentators may have wanted to choke the guy.
- Neo Vertigo will not be used in the next Starleague. It will be replaced by "Avant Garde 2," an updated version of the original that was used back in the Freechal days. We'll see how it turns out. Should be fun tho - LOTS of resources.
- The winner of the "Most Popular With the Girls" award goes to Jinnam, hands down. The screams of joy from the girls when Jinnam came on the podium were deafening.
- Group A is the obvious Group of Death, but Group D is for "DEADPAN." A sorrier bunch of cold, emotionless, frozen-faced pro gamers you will not see anywhere in the universe. OMG.
That's all folks. I'm outta here...
group A...
-----> I tough Garimto stopped to play huh?
You.
