EPT
Keep up to date with jkillashark’s results and standings, which also includes a bit of MSL history.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/KizZBG/gomtvmslbanner.jpg)
Last season saw a Zerg god fall back to earth, and a new, young hope turn potential into reality. An entire race of players, virtually excluded from the Shinhan3 and facing despair in the MSL final, was rejuvenated by the most decisive of victories.
This season’s MSL has increased prize money, a bigger format, four new maps, and an impressive list of big names. But for me, nothing is as important as what Bisu is on the brink of here: dominance, greatness, and balance. The Terrans had their tornado and their cheater; the Zergs had their god of war and their maestro. The Protoss race has long waited for its savior, sadly watching its MSL hopes in Reach and Ra die horribly to the new age Zerg players.
Protoss fans, forever pessimists, thought “oh, here we go again“ when Bisu was down 0-1 to Child in ODT Round 1, or when he drew Midas in his ODT Round 2 group. But then something odd happened. Bisu pulled it out. He has it, whatever “it” is. You could see it in his play, his calm under pressure, his newfound confidence. The Bisu train is gaining steam, and from watching his games recently, you couldn’t help but feel the ghosts of Garimto and Grrrr were standing behind him.
His journey towards greatness begins in two days, and all those who cheer for Protoss will be watching with bated breath.
Group A: May 3rd – 18:30 Korean
Game 1 – Bisu (P) vs. Child (Z) @ Monty Hall
Game 2 – Oversky (Z) vs. Freedom.werra (T) @ Desperado
Winners @ Loki
Losers @ Loki
Winner/Loser x2 @ Python
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/images/liquibet/players/Bisu.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/images/liquibet/players/Child.jpg)
@ Monty Hall
Oh, there are other players in this group? Child has looked impressive in his Proleague matches. He’s playing confident, and his dorky fist pose is actually looking somewhat badass (sometimes). This match will be a rematch of the series where Bisu came back from 0-1 down to beat Child during the
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/images/liquibet/players/OverSky.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/images/liquibet/players/FreeDom.werra.jpg)
@ Desperado
Traditionally, double gas maps lead to “reverse” balance (Z>T>P>Z). Oversky’s ZvT is pretty good, and this game may come down to his ability to hold a second double gas. Freedom has shown some pretty good TvZ control, but if he plays passive like he did versus Shark in ODT, sitting back and taking bases instead of denying expansions, he will lose. This map could lead to some interesting 1-base Terran builds, and Freedom should (if he wants to win) abuse the ten patches and take advantage of that. Regular old Terran FE likely will not work.
The most likely scenario here is Bisu vs. Oversky. Everyone keeps comparing this map to Peaks, which is natural given that it’s two players, with multiple-entrance cliffs and weird pathing issues, but the resources are so different. Loki is ridiculously resource intensive, allowing a double expand with 3 gases just for taking your front natural. It’s a big macro map with lots of harass possibilities, and Bisu should excel here. He’d rather play Oversky here than Freedom, that’s for sure, with plenty of places to cliff, block, mine, and generally be annoying TvP.
Let’s say it is Freedom vs. Child on this map. As the routine TvZ games go, it will come down to how many gases Child has when he reaches hive. More than three, and Freedom is likely toast.
Python looks to be a balanced map, and there are too many possibilities to go through each one. PvT is influenced slightly by positions, a cross position push is considerably harder than hugging the natural skinny cliff or elevating through the island. If Bisu ends up here, I don’t anticipate him having any problems. I would like to see Freedom to be the second advancer, but that probably won’t happen if he rematches Oversky here.
