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Osaka27156 Posts
A balance among races emerged last night in the OGN tie breakers. In three hours, nine hopefuls were whittled down to four and the playoff picture for the Bacchus OSL was solidified. Read further to find out who made the cut and who went home.
The new Power Rank is up! Check out who was tops in January according to our resident expert FakeSteve.
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For Stork, Much, and Luxury, Wednesday was a day to relax, practice a little StarCraft, and find out who would be joining them in the round of 8. For many others, Wednesday was a day of tension and nerves.
Last week in Group A, Jaedong had failed to advance when he lost to Best on Demon's Forest. He would not make that same mistake again. A first game trouncing of Sea was merely a warm up for the main event. Playing on Katrina, which has shown itself to be a haven for protoss players, Jaedong dominated Best with a relentless build. He showed perfect transitions during the game:
- Opening with hydralisks and overlord speed both prevented sair/dt harass, and allowed him to kill Best's aggressive second expansion attempt.
- A tech change to mutalisks put Best on the defensive, forced him to spend on defense, and allowed Jaedong to wreck heavy damage on the protoss natural expansion.
- An upgrade to lurkers and drop was the coup de grace as Jaedongs mutalisks lured Best's army into the middle of the map and a doom drop decimated the protoss natural yet again.
The simple fact that Katrina takes so long to move about on won Jaedong the game, as Best was never in a position to attack, and rarely in a position to defend. Fortunately for the SK hope, he was able to top Sea in the third game with a cheeky dt drop that destroyed the choke assimilator in the terran base. With Sea busy ferrying troops in dropships all game, it was an easy matter to crush him with arbiters.
 Jaedong and  BeSt[HyO] advance.
Group B saw three players vying for a single spot. Ironically, the last game played on Demon's Forest produced the best one as Rock smashed Rumble in the face in an entertaining PvZ. For the first time, the mass of trees showed their intended design as zealots were unstoppable vs single-file lings. Rock's victory was short-lived however, as Flash sniffed out his double center gates on Troy and defended the cheese attack easily. The final game of the group proved that Flash is a serious contender and Rumble ought to just go home as the terran crushed the SK zerg under his boot.
 Flash advances (Stork advanced 3-0)
Group C was the final group, and for the nostalgic, also the best. With 5 major championships between them, July, Bisu, and Xellos were all looking at a chance to regain respect. Opening on Katrina was a blessing for Bisu, as he foiled Xellos' hidden bionic build that reeked of desperation.
In the second game against July, Bisu fell behind early. After scouting a nine-pool, Bisu worried about a zerg allin attack which has been a favorite maneuver of July on Blue Storm. Instead, July expanded twice, and Bisu was left with four cannons, gas, and no second nexus. However, of the three players in his group, Bisu has the most recent championship experience and he showed it off. Using a mix of corsairs and dark templars, he relentlessly harassed July's expansions. While July was able to destroy Bisu's third nexus with an impressive hydralisk army, he was unable to crack the defenses at the protoss front yard. Back at home, his economy was faltering and he was unable to replace the troops he lost in his attack. Due to a stubbourn refusal to invest in static defense, July's momentum slowly bled away in the face of Bisu's army. The end was swift and brutal, as Bisu flexed his PvZ muscles for the first time in a while.
Bisu advances (Luxury advanced 3-0)
With the Round Robin stage complete, the OSL switches to Friday games only, as the OSC takes the Wednesday slot. The first game day will be February 15th as each series plays it's first game and Fantasy II makes it's reappearance:
Group A, Game 1: Jaedong < Troy > Flash
Group B, Game 1: Much < Katrina > Bisu
Group C, Game 1: Luxury < Fantasy II > FrOzean
Group D, Game 1: Stork < Blue Storm > BeSt[HyO]
Cheers,
Mani 
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United States20661 Posts
I believe Jaedong's loss was against Best, not Much. [Much was in group D]
Otherwise, I like this style of report as well^^;
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Osaka27156 Posts
On February 07 2008 14:55 GrandInquisitor wrote:Excellent! I like this trend of analysis. (Just one thing, it's coup de grace, not coup de gras  )
Quiet Jeopardy boy! Actually I was just googling that because I KNEW it was wrong. But you know, coup de gras, fois gras, whatever. I only studied french for 10 years.
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Osaka27156 Posts
On February 07 2008 14:59 Last Romantic wrote:
I believe Jaedong's loss was against Best, not Much. [Much was in group D]
Otherwise, I like this style of report as well^^;
It says Best. Less crack for you please.
+ Show Spoiler +
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Awww Best faces Stork first round....
I wanted him to go far too hahaha like face FrozeAn that woulda been nice,
Thanks for the report ^^
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Kentor
United States5784 Posts
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On February 07 2008 15:58 Tensai176 wrote:
Awww Best faces Stork first round....
I wanted him to go far too hahaha like face FrozeAn that woulda been nice,
Thanks for the report ^^
I wouldn't rule out Best going somewhere. His PvP in the proleague last season was top notch; he just might have the skill to go toe to toe with Stork in that matchup. I wouldn't consider him a favorite, but I expect interesting games.
As for facing Frozean, that won't happen because Luxury will kill Frozean good and dead. 
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thanks
nice write up
that's my bisu, that's my kim taek yong :X. I'm so in love with him ^^! <3
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Oh God, what am I going to do? So many games, so little time!
Thanks for the writeup, saving my ass, so I only have to spent a minimal amount following the leagues. More time for studying. It still is hard to resist though.
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Due to a stubbourn refusal to invest in static defense, July's momentum slowly bled away in the face of Bisu's army. The end was swift and brutal, as Bisu flexed his PvZ muscles for the first time in a while.
nicely put. 
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Isn't it Best[WHITE] not Best[HyO]? We just had that discussion in the Who is Who USWest. I mean his ID in the game clearly says SKT T1_Best[WHITE]. Or am I just completetly mistaken here? :O
edit: but then again, you TLPDized your newspost and the info on the TLPD seems to be false.
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3 Lions
United States3705 Posts
poor flash, he has to face jaedong in BOTH starleagues
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Osaka27156 Posts
On February 07 2008 20:04 Avius wrote:
Isn't it Best[WHITE] not Best[HyO]? We just had that discussion in the Who is Who USWest. I mean his ID in the game clearly says SKT T1_Best[WHITE]. Or am I just completetly mistaken here? :O
edit: but then again, you TLPDized your newspost and the info on the TLPD seems to be false.
No, this is the same Best that has been around for a long time. Whether Best[WHITE] is the same person, I don't know, but he has been Best[HyO] for a long long time.
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On February 07 2008 21:49 Manifesto7 wrote:Show nested quote +On February 07 2008 20:04 Avius wrote:
Isn't it Best[WHITE] not Best[HyO]? We just had that discussion in the Who is Who USWest. I mean his ID in the game clearly says SKT T1_Best[WHITE]. Or am I just completetly mistaken here? :O
edit: but then again, you TLPDized your newspost and the info on the TLPD seems to be false. No, this is the same Best that has been around for a long time. Whether Best[WHITE] is the same person, I don't know, but he has been Best[HyO] for a long long time.
Yeah, he most likely is the same person anyways, just wanted to be sure. Thanks.
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Hungary11305 Posts
Thanks for this article Manifesto! I see you have reacted to some of the criticisms in the "News page feedback" thread.
What I totally love is how the news looks on the frontpage. The smaller logo and the text next to it make it look like a real newsitem, designed for the frontpage. The other articles more look like - well, the start of an article, which wants you to click on them to go on, with the text cut off in the middle of a paragraph. Not to forget the more dramatic title instead of "OSL Ro16 tiebreakers writeup" or anything else.
Second important point is emphasizing the games which were really important / impressive, i.e. the Jaedong vs. Best game and the Bisu vs. July game. Judgements may be varying, but imo these stuck out from the bunch. Very much appreciated!
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thanks for the .rar and wmv formats! USAFA blocks youtube, so it's nice to be able to see a vod from time to time!
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United States1655 Posts
On February 07 2008 16:13 Macavenger wrote:Show nested quote +On February 07 2008 15:58 Tensai176 wrote:
Awww Best faces Stork first round....
I wanted him to go far too hahaha like face FrozeAn that woulda been nice,
Thanks for the report ^^ I wouldn't rule out Best going somewhere. His PvP in the proleague last season was top notch; he just might have the skill to go toe to toe with Stork in that matchup. I wouldn't consider him a favorite, but I expect interesting games. As for facing Frozean, that won't happen because Luxury will kill Frozean good and dead.
Yeah, Best's PvP seems pretty strong from the TLPD (something like 11-3), so it will be very close!
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I seriously believe that Best is no Bisu when it comes to PvZ. His corsairs were to few. His game sense wasn't en par (come on, a drop bisu doesn't know of?). His transitions weren't as good as the master. He had a quite good beginning of the game, but that's about it. Giving the beast that Jaedong is right now, I think it takes a true PvZ master to take him down. Or TvZ: on a good day, FlaSh is a real peril.
Greetings, fragbait
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Good stuff as usual, Mani. The inset banner looks slick.
On February 08 2008 01:32 Tengo_Hambre wrote:
thanks for the .rar and wmv formats! USAFA blocks youtube, so it's nice to be able to see a vod from time to time!
Those are courtesy of yakii, TL's resident superhero.
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South Africa4316 Posts
I like the results of this playoff, and I'm seriously looking forward to the quarter finals. Flash vs Jaedong, again. If Flash wins either the MSL or the OSL match against Jaedong, I'll be over the moon. Then we have Best vs Stork. Best has a big PvP, and I'd like to see it go head to head against Storks. Much vs Bisu is also going to be interesting, with Bisu having some troubles recently, and Much being in tremendous form the match should be interesting.
The only slightly offbeat match will be Luxury vs Frozean. I think Lux will pulverize poor CuteAngel, unless he pulls a twin on himself and lets 12 overlords die to a group of m&m.
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EPT
