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Yes We KHAN!
By: Wunder
As we round the halfway mark of the final round for the regular season, things are slowing down as some teams begin to realize they have no chance of making the playoffs and, as a result, start to field their less experienced players. This week features a first time appearance by Major, as well as appearances from other players we haven’t seen for a little while.
More importantly, all eyes rest on Samsung as they continue to fight for their survival. As the only team who has a chance to break into the top four, this week will be their most important yet.
MajOr: Our Mexican hero, probably best known for predicting the next biggest Terran superstar, has finally gotten his time in the sun with his first official appearance in the regular season. Prior to this, we had seen Major play in The Special where he took on his teammate, Terminator, and showed some good TvP chops, narrowly losing to a storm timing. With Team 8 out of the running for the Playoffs and Major tweeting that Team 8 is looking to cut him along with three other members, this looks like Team 8’s way of sending Major off with a small present. However, as luck would have it, his first and probably only Proleague match this season will be none other than Flash himself. There isn’t that much to say other than the fact that we haven’t really seen much from Major since WCS AM S1, where he didn’t really show great games against aLive. Regardless, all we can do now is believe in him and hope for the best.
BeSt: SKT seems to have been rotating through their b-team as of late, with SoO, Brown and Paralyze all getting some of the limelight this round. This week it’s BeSt’s turn, the captain of the team and someone we haven’t seen for over a month. Being in both matches for SKT this week, BeSt has two opportunities to showcase his strength, especially since he only has to prepare for one matchup: PvP. Whether or not SKT’s gamble will pay off remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: SKT needs at least one win this week to stay ahead of Samsung or risk dropping below the cutoff for the playoffs.
BrAvO/Aria: In a surprising move, WJS has decided to mix their starters up a bit and field both Bravo and Aria this week. What this means is that it leaves out ZerO, the "second string" Zerg that has been a staple for WJS throughout the season. With WJS still holding a four game lead over second place KT Rolster, they definitely have a lot of leeway in the next few matches. While this could be a calculated move to try and get as much exposure to the newer players as possible, ZerO has not been performing up to snuff and it could be a sign that Woongjin is struggling to find the players needed to perform.
Kop: The Samsung Terran hasn’t seen much play in recent weeks, mainly due to the fact that both TurN and Reality have been doing reasonably well. However, with Kop’s inclusion this week, this leaves an under-performing Stork out of the starting lineup. With each game being absolutely critical for Samsung at this point, they can no longer field Stork purely off his reputation and BW skill, and this may have been the TurNing point where they face the Reality of the situation.
Match of the Week
by Wunder
EG-TL vs Samsung KHAN
With not many critical matches this week, EG-TL vs Samsung KHAN is probably the best match to watch, as almost every game Samsung plays had a large impact on the overall rankings. Compound that with the fact that EG-TL has been on their hottest streak this entire season, and this match is shaping up to be a scorcher. We take a look at two of the most important games and how they can affect the outcome of the match.
EG’s invisible Terran, aLive, has been tasked with one of the toughest opponents Samsung has in their roster. RorO, the last Wings of Liberty GSL winner, may not been doing as well as Soulkey, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the chops to take down a Terran like aLive. While RorO has still been proving himself in the battlefield of WCS Korea, aLive scurried off to WCS AM, where he almost made the finals but lost 3-1 to his teammate, Revival. Going into this game, aLive is the clear underdog up against the titan RorO - but as we’ve seen in the past weeks, EG-TL has gotten better and better at preparing builds for their players, especially when they are outclassed. What I expect to see is aLive going for an aggressive opener to take an early game lead, with which he will try to capitalize on, and win during the mid game. If aLive takes this game, EG-TL could very well take this entire match 4-0. However, if RorO defends successfully and wins, the looming shadow of Jangbi encroaches ever closer.
The sixth set of this match features an absolutely crucial PvP for both teams. Jangbi, the Protoss ace for Samsung and the winner of the last two BW OSLs, has truly come into his own as of late. Going into this game, JYP will be hard pressed to pull the wool over Jangbi’s eyes, as the Samsung Protoss is well versed in the art of PvP. Having said that, he has made some questionable decisions, losing to Bisu in a long macro PvP by taking bad engagements and executing poor zealot run-by attempts. So while Jangbi has shown weaknesses in his play, it will be entirely up to JYP to see if he can exploit them and bait Jangbi into choosing to engage into a fight he cannot win. With this being the sixth set, the winner of this game could very well be ending the match 4-2, or tying the series up 3-3 to bring it to an ace. With the matches in between being a toss-up, we could head into this sixth game in every possible circumstance, which means to say that both players have to play their absolute best come Sunday afternoon.
I would be so happy for Major if he could beat Flash, however in the world that could happen. It would be so great for him and a truly wonderful "parting gift". I don't see it happening, but I'd love it if it happened.
Tonight's Woongjin vs. STX match is quite big. STX wins and they're in the playoffs. Woongjin wins and they will clinch their first Proleague finals in about 10 years.
On June 22 2013 09:26 NightOfTheDead wrote: Say Samsung wins, and SKT1 loses all their matches, their at 20-20. Don't they (SKT1) have a better score? In what way can Samsung take 4th place?
afaik this isn't the last week of proleague, samsung still has 3 more games, and SKT1 has 4 more, so if samsung wins all 3, and SKT goes 0-4 or 1-3 then samsung takes 4th place
I actually think Major playing Flash is the best thing ever. Would you rather play a Proleague match against a b-teamer or lesser known player and win OR play against flash and most likely lose?
His dream was to be on a Kespa team. He got that. His next goal was probably to play in progleague. He got that now! Next goal for the proleague match to have meaning and have a worthy star opponent. HE GOT THAT WITH FLASH!!!
Imagine him winning against someone who's doing poorly or a b-teamer. He wouldn't get any recognition. Now he's playing flash. Even if he pulls a miracle and win people will doubt and say it's only BO1 but that's still be impressive as fuck. Hell, it being a close game would be impressive as fuck.(Assuming no cheese of course).
Will probably lose but not many foreigners will ever get the chance to play god himself on Kespa's home turf.
On June 22 2013 09:16 Fionn wrote: Tonight's Woongjin vs. STX match is quite big. STX wins and they're in the playoffs. Woongjin wins and they will clinch their first Proleague finals in about 10 years.
Edit: Oops! I misread your post- thought you said Samsung xD. my mistake
Doesn't Major go home soon due to T8 kicking 4 players including him? Excellent way to say goodbye in my opinion. Being able to say you battled it out with God himself in proleague is something to be proud of, no matter what your status as a gamer is. Good thing the matching up worked in his favor.
Yay for major getting to play I hope he goes out with a bang. It's interesting that Samsung would field inexperienced players over Stork when they're in a desperate situation. I mean even if he hasn't been preforming that well he still has a lot of experience in the booth which I think counts for a lot.
I am looking forward to seeing Kop play though. I remember being impressed by his mech timing vs OZ on the old heavily protoss favored fighting spirit. If I remember correct he was the only terran to win vs protoss on that map. I wonder what kind of builds he'll come out with this week.
On June 23 2013 10:31 Steel wrote: Aw man poor Major, can't help but feel bad for him. Would of been nice to get a win before being sent home.
Its good to see EGTL not at the bottom! I think with a few recruits they could be strong next season, they've learned a lot.
Will their be a next season for EGTL? I would be super excited to be able to go see them in person after I've saved up some vacation days and some money.
On June 23 2013 10:31 Steel wrote: Aw man poor Major, can't help but feel bad for him. Would of been nice to get a win before being sent home.
Its good to see EGTL not at the bottom! I think with a few recruits they could be strong next season, they've learned a lot.
Will their be a next season for EGTL? I would be super excited to be able to go see them in person after I've saved up some vacation days and some money.
I find it weird if they would invest so much into setting everything up with the house and a new Coach etc and then just bail on it.
This is a major opportunity for MajOr, certainly one that doesn't generally come round very often. I'm sure he's been training hard in private, so here's hoping he can manage it!
what I predict happening in the Major vs Flash game is probably the following:
Flash will leave Major to play standard and he'll focus on defense first as a stronger player..
Then we'll see Major do the perfect engagements vs Flash's units cause he'd have practised that for perfection, BUT - Flash is Flash, the guy just doesn't die..
I mean really - how many times have we seen flash lose engagement and being like 20 ahead in supply ? - no matter the engagement (well he never has horrible ones, but i think that more of the other players are focusing on practising those in order to gain an edge against him), but then - no matter how much units Flash loses - even in combat - the guy has never below 160 supply