EPT
Group A: ElkY (T) ("Bertrand Grospellier") < [Red]Nada (T) ("Lee Woon-yul") - Gaema Gowon
Well, looks like I'll be having some crow for dinner tonight. Nada (@8) was simply too much for ElkY (@5) this day. Lee dominated our French mercenary from start to finish in all the ways an SC opponent can be dominated: timing, micro, macro, game management, crisis mangement, judgment, strats, unit count - even LUCK (no one wants to start @5 on this map - even without Nada as an opponent). ElkY did make a game of it by sneaking a proxy factory at the 10 hill natural, but, somehow, that didn't seem to matter at all to Nada. Once Nada got his natural going, his forces just kept coming wave after wave. Just overwhelming. What a juggernaut.
Group B: Garimto (P) ("Kim Dong-soo") < SlayerS_`BoxeR` (T) ("Lim Yo-hwan") - Neo Forbidden Zone
Just when I thought Garimto didn't have any new strats to dazzle us with left in him, I'm left shaking my head in disbelief and wondering at the depth of his genius. Just when people start thinking Garimto's finished as a pro gamer, he shows us why he will always remain one of the greatest champions this game has ever known. Garimto (@7), who is about to retire from professional gaming, wasn't given much of a chance v the much hungrier (and still very actively pro) Boxer (@5) in this match. Kim did take some time off from work (yes, he's already started a full-time job at a game development company) to prepare for this match, but c'mon, who are we kidding? And versus BOXER, at that! But man Garimto gave Boxer a fight Lim won't soon forget. Boxer showed fast double CC and rax, but it was Garimto who surprised the heck out of everyone by opening fast tech Citadel of Adun + Stargate almost simultaneously - to jump to fast Arbiters! Garimto would end up producing no less than 5-6 Arbs during this match and recalling upgraded zealots on Boxer's main and natural some half-dozen times at least, omg (maybe more - I lost count). Lim somehow managed to stay calm and showed why he's very likely the greatest defensive player in the history of the game - but only barely. Garimto probably would have finished it if he had only taken out Lim's natural with his 2nd recall. The game saw so many rarely-used units and spells (arbs, recall, stasis, ghost, lockdown - one arb even had like 6 kills!) in such numbers, and was so ridiculously entertaining that the OGN casters were screaming "and NO, this isn't an exhibition match, it's for REAL!"
Also, a couple of additional things the OGN commentators had to say post-match worth repeating: 1) toss users need to seriously look into this kickin' BO Garimto just laid on Boxer on this map. Anyone else would have been TOAST. It was novel yes, but very risk-managed. Not a desperation "hail mary" at all and looks very tough to counter unless specifically prepared for, and 2) in most cases where a player loses his first match in Starleague, it's customary to put him as a longshot to advance into the next round. Garimto, after this game, is an exception. He looks to be the favorite to advance from his Group along with Boxer. I agree. Looks like Garimto is determined to go out with a bang.
Group C: Yellow (Z) ("Hong Jin-ho") > Oddysay (T) ("Han Woong-yul") - Neo Bifrost
Oddysay's (@2) done fairly well on this map, but Yellow's shown that this is his territory (coming into this match, Hong was 6-1 on Bifrost, his only loss coming at the hands of the Perfect Terran himself, Xellos, who's really, truly unbeatable on the map) and proved it once again, surprising Oddy with the sheer speed with which he got lurkers out and crawling all over the map. I think Yellow may have been helped by all the screaming fangirls at the studio - had poor Hong blushing and desperately repressing a huge smile before the match had even started ... again.
Group D: Junwi (Z) ("Bak Gyung-rak") < Sync (T) ("Byun Gil-sup") - Avant Garde II
Junwi's a fast-rising star these days and riding a serious hotstreak. The map also slightly favors Z, at least v T (coming into the match, T was 0-4 v Z on it) and Junwi opened fast double hatch expo, taking early control of the game with mass mutas backed by lings and lurkers. The match turned when Sync managed to stop and decimate the mutas/lings/lurkers that Junwi had sent into Sync's main while virtually all of Sync's M&M forces were in transit down to Junwi's expo. Byun's Sparks Terran was just spectacular today and seemingly immune to all the ling/lurket/muta rushes sent against it. Also showed superior control and quick, instinctive thinking when he saved (at least for a bit) 3 isolated science vessels from certain scourge-death (at least for a bit) by deftly casting shields on each other in the blink of an eye. Drew a loud roar of approval from the audience.
! I think this will be the greatest OGN league of all times 
