EPT
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Shinhan Proleague 2007 - Results & Standings
All future Proleague matches are rematches. In this case, the four teams had all played each other back on April 30 already.
14:00 KOR Time on OnGameNet
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/images/liquibet/players/SK%20T1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/images/liquibet/players/Pantech%20Ex.jpg)
Statistics
SK Telecom T1 - 6th at 6-6, 29-24 (+5) overall
Last Match - 6/3 WIN 3-1 vs Air Force ACE
Top Player - Canata (T) 8-2 (TvT 3-0 TvP 3-2 TvZ 2-0)
Pantech EX - 10th at 4-8, 22-29 (-7) overall
Last Match - 6-3 LOSS 0-3 vs eSTRO
Top Player - Nada (T) 7-7 (TvT 4-3 TvP 0-1 TvZ 3-3)
Introduction
It is staggering - truly staggering, that SKT T1 has the best 1v1 record in all of Proleague (26-15), have the best overall differential (29-24, +5) behind Samsung KHAN, and yet are still only tied for 6th place with a 6-6 record. There's clearly some coaching issues going on, as well as some serious 2v2 problems - but more on that later. They've just beaten Air Force ACE to snap a five-match losing streak (four of which came in Ace matches, and more on that later too).
Pantech, on the other hand, isn't doing so hot, being third to last in Proleague. For the longest time they were carried by NaDa, who singlehandedly kept them from losing too badly, but now that he's slumping too...yeah. It's pretty depressing. I mean, they got 3-0ed by eSTRO. eSTRO.
Games
Midas (T) < Geometry > NaDa (T)
About two or three months ago, this would have been amazing. This would have been must-see TV, a titanic struggle between the two best Terrans in the world. Clash of the Titans, Duel of the Fates...now, it's just Struggle of the Has-Beens.
Midas is 3-2 TvT in Proleague, while NaDa is 4-3; but it's frustrating to try and judge TvT abilities from that. Midas is beating people like 2004 WCG Grand Champion XellOs, and 2001 & 2002 WCG Grand Champion Boxer, and uh, Qoo)Sunny, who I'm sure will follow in the footsteps of other Terrans that lost to Midas in Proleague and go on to win WCG. You heard it here first, folks. But to get back on topic, they're not particularly strong T's that Midas is beating, and he's losing to people like Hwasin and FrOzean[Name], who are kinda strong TvT.
NaDa's resume is no less underwhelming. Beating Shudder_V_, GoodFriend, and Casy (speaking of has-beens...) is no big accomplishment, and his TvT losses are to Hwasin, Hery[Hyo], and oov - all decently strong TvT.
So both players have beaten sucky T's and lost to good T's. Ehhh. In the end, I'm going to go with Midas, just on the hunch that losing the last three TvT's does not make NaDa any more confident about tonight's game.
Canata (T) < Monty Hall > Sea.Pure (P)
Pure's never played a PvT game in Proleague yet. Canata, on the other hand, is 3-2, winning against Jangbi, SangHo[Shield], and HerO_V_ and losing only to Chalrenge and Stork. Again, not overwhelmingly impressive, but coupled with his outstanding record in other matchups, it's enough to earn him the nod over a player that Pantech clearly doesn't want to put into Proleague that often.
Kingdom (P)/Rumble (Z) < Chariots of Fire > SiLvEr (Z)/TheROCK[3.33] (P)
SKT T1 is legendary for what appears to be their draconian affirmative action policy as far as Proleague participation goes (out of all the teams, they have had the most number of different players participate in Proleague), but nowhere is it more evident than in 2v2. This is the twelfth new 2v2 combination SKT T1 has tried (also by far the highest in the league) - none of their 2v2 teams have played more than one game except for s2[fOu]/Kingdom (which are 0-2). Hell, if you get lucky, you might suddenly find yourself playing 2v2 for them in Proleague. In total, fifteen different players have tried playing 2v2 for SKT T1. It's puzzling to me why so many of them want to play 2v2 so badly, considering almost all of them are failing miserably. SKT T1 has the worst 2v2 record in the league - it's anyone's guess why such a talented team finds 2v2 so infernally difficult.
Compare this to Pantech, which has used exactly three 2v2 combinations so far involving just four different players, and are sending out their most experienced team (3-3) tonight. So although I think both Kingdom and Rumble are clearly better players than Silver and Rock, Pantech should take this.
Unless, of course, twelfth time's the charm.
iloveoov (T) < Shin Peaks of Baekdu > Sea.FireFist (Z)
This is also pretty funny. As far as I can tell, in my searches, I don't think Sea.FireFist has played more than a single ZvT at the pro level in his career. (For those diehard Sea.FireFist fans out there - all two of you - it was beating DarkElf (lozl) almost a year ago.)
Oov, on the other hand, is pretty beastly lately. Granted, he hasn't played that many TvZ's, and lost a bunch of the ones he played - but they've all been to strong competition: July, sAviOr, and me. But he's been so dominant in his other matchups, and his 5-base (god, just the thought of oov with 5 bases gives me nightmares) humiliation of Jaedong in his most recent TvZ is impressive enough for me to give it to him.
Ace Match < Python >
SKT T1 Ace record: 1-5
Pantech EX Ace record: 2-5
If it came down to Ace, this would be hilarious. Perhaps the two worst Ace teams have been set up against each other. Indeed, SKT T1 hasn't won a single Ace match since their first and only victory, which - hey, was against Pantech! How amusing!
SKT T1 has sent out Canata, oov, and Midas recently. Who Pantech sends out will probably say a lot about how they think NaDa's doing; if they think he's doing better, he'll definitely come out; otherwise they'll go to like Hero_V_ or something. Either way, I'm betting on SKT T1 finally winning another Ace match this Proleague.
14:00 KOR Time on MBCGame
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/images/liquibet/players/eStro.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/images/liquibet/players/Air%20Force%20ACE.jpg)
Statistics
eSTRO - 11th at 4-8, 18-28 (-10) overall
Last Match - 6/3 WIN 3-0 vs Pantech EX
Top Player - Tester (P) 6-4 (PvP 1-2 PvZ 1-0 PvT 4-2)
Air Force ACE - 12th at 3-9, 15-32 (-17) overall
Last Match - 6/3 LOSS 1-3 vs SK Telecom T1
Top Player - Mumyung (Z) 6-5 (ZvZ 1-0 ZvP 2-1 ZvT 3-4) (LOZL)
Introduction
These two are at the bottom of the proverbial barrel, as far as Proleague goes. Think of this match as two people who don't know how to swim, stuck in the ocean, clawing at each other madly. Instead of doing the sensible thing and working together (whereupon they still wouldn't have as many 1v1 or 2v2 wins as Samsung KHAN), they are struggling to climb on top of one another to keep their own head above water and forcing the other to drown. That's what we're looking at here, folks - though Air Force ACE is last right now, whichever team loses is going to take last for themselves. Air Force ACE 3-1'ed eSTRO last time they met, for their first Proleague win, and eSTRO desperately does not want that to happen again.
Games
Tester[gm] (P) < Tau Cross > Rage[3.33] (P)
The only recent PvP Rage played (and by recent, I mean sometime since 2005) was a loss against Much. Not that Tester has played that many himself - he's lost to Free and Stork, but he did manage to beat Rock[3.33], whose tag is really similar to Rage's. The fact that eSTRO is confident in sending out Tester, and given his excellence in other matchups, is enough to give him the nod. I mean, Rage has only played two Proleague games for Air Force ACE, a team that has sent the winless Clon out seven times.
Suny[fOu] (T) < Nemesis > BoxeR (T)
I have absolutely no idea who Suny is. His one pro game is a loss to Rumble of SKT T1 - whose only pro game is, surprise, a win over Suny. So on that alone, I should immediately give it to the Emperor, would it not for the troubling fact that He has not won a TvT since - I am not making this up - June 5, 2006, over XellOs in last year's Proleague. Still, I will very hesitatingly give it to Boxer, with the admonition that if he breaks my heart again I'm going to have to definitively send him to the Washed-up Terrans Foundation, or WTF, where I'm sure NaDa and XellOs can give him a big welcome and show him the ropes.
Soha[saM] (P)/Cool[fOu] (Z) < Vampire > H.O.T-Forever (Z)/Qoo)Sunny (T)
The two teams sport identical 5-7 2v2 records. H.O.T is pretty much by now the go-to guy for Air Force's 2v2's, and he's played the most with Qoo)Sunny, compiling a 2-2 record. So they've not been particularly impressive, but given that their opponents are two relative no-names who have never played together, I'll give it to ACE. Let's move on.
UpMagiC (T) < Geometry > MuMyung (Z)
It's kind of sad that the all-star, most exciting game of the match features Mumyung. Yes - he's gotten better, and yes, he's Air Force's star player (not that that's hard LOL), and yes, he's somehow 6-5, but his ZvT isn't really overwhelming. Two defeats of Hery[HyO], one of Bassen[fOu] (of eSTRO, incidentally) - and then losses to Sea[Shield], Hwasin, NaDa, and fOrGG_V_. Those four losses are all to pretty top-tier TvZ's, true, but there's been no evidence that Mumyung can beat a decent, midlevel TvZ like Up.
Then again, there's no evidence that Up can beat a decent, midlevel ZvT, considering he's lost to YellOw[ArnC], Jaedong, and GGPlay in his last three TvZ's. But the map is Geometry - the 11-3 TvZ record speaks for itself. I think Up can snap his TvZ losing streak right here against Mumyung on this map.
Ace Match < Python >
Air Force ACE Ace record: 2-1
eSTRO Ace record: 2-1
These are basically two teams that suck so much they haven't even been able to get to an Ace match to lose in (being the only teams that Hanbitstars has 3-0ed is not really something to be proud of). Expect the two "stars" (aka the only players with winning records on these two teams) Mumyung and Tester to come out. Tester hasn't played very many PvZ's (only one, where he beat Luxury[GsP] - then again, who hasn't beaten Luxury PvZ?), and Mumyung has beaten Jangbi while splitting a pair of games against BeSt[HyO]. I feel much more confident about Mumyung's chances in this matchup, and will accordingly atone for all the jokes I crack at his expense by predicting that if it comes down to Ace, he can beat Tester and get Air Force ACE out of the Proleague pit (and into the basement, presumably).
GrandInquisitor!
